What if our built environment was shaped by local, climate resilient, mixed-species forest? Make Good hosts an afternoon of thought-provoking talks from scientists, designers, manufacturers, lawyers, architects and developers.

The 2026 Make Good symposium brings together leading scientists, designers, manufacturers, lawyers, architects and developers to discuss how we can grow better forests in the UK, harvest the material they offer responsibly and build with it locally. As such, it takes its cue from dRMM's research into local hardwood, currently on display at the V&A in Building from Forests.

Symposium overview:
 Introductions by Anna Bates, V&A and Jonas Lencer, dRMM

Material
Marlene Cramer, Edinburgh Napier University

Making
Nick Gant, Designer and Researcher
Je Ahn, Studio Weave

Building
Jonathan Smales, Human Nature
Louise Rogers, BE-ST

Systemic change
Paul Powlesland, Lawyers for Nature
Imandeep Kaur, Civic Square

Concluding remarks by Christopher Wilk, V&A

The symposium forms part of the fifth iteration of the Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures programme, supported by John Makepeace OBE. The ten-year project launched in 2022 and encompasses an annual display in the Dr Susan Weber Gallery of Furniture, an annual symposium and a programme of acquisitions dedicated to exploring the use of renewable, natural materials in design and architecture at a time of climate emergency.