Martina Spetlova x Planet of the Grapes: Canyon, weaving and digital material traceability with SmartDPP
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Martina Spetlova’s work is known for its distinctive woven constructions, material intelligence and high-end craft language.
For Planet of the Grapes, the collaboration offered a chance to see how Canyon would behave in the hands of a designer whose practice is built around cutting, threading, tension and transformation.
The result was a woven stool made with Canyon by Planet of the Grapes, created in collaboration with SmartDPP and shown at Future Fabrics.
Canyon sits within the Savigne by Planet of the Grapes® family and is developed from grape marc - the skins, seeds and stems left behind after winemaking.
Its surface is matte, irregular and topographical, with a quiet relief that feels shaped by pressure, time and touch. It is a material that carries structure, texture and atmosphere at once.
Meeting through Fashion Revolution
Planet of the Grapes founder Sam first connected with Martina through the Fashion Revolution accelerator programme. It was a meaningful meeting. Martina’s work had already been part of Sam’s teaching in fashion and ethics, particularly because of the way her practice connects craft, social impact and high-end design.
Martina is renowned for weaving, usually with leather, and her work has been seen at London Fashion Week and sold through Selfridges.
That made her an especially strong collaborator for Canyon - not because the material needed to imitate leather, but because her technique could reveal what a new material might do when treated with the same level of skill and attention.
Testing Canyon through cutting and weaving
The collaboration developed in Martina’s London Fields atelier, where Canyon was cut, sliced and worked into woven form.
Our founder, Samantha Mureau, says
“At that stage, it was with Canyon, the original material, and she could see how it cut very well, and with clean edges” says our founder, Samantha Mureau.
That detail matters. Canyon cuts well with scissors or scalpel, responds effectively to standard sewing machines, and can accommodate different stitch lengths and thicknesses. In its firmer expression, it lends itself to clean edges, contained forms and more rigid silhouettes.
For Martina’s stool, those qualities allowed Canyon to move from sheet material into ribbon-like strips, then into a woven surface. The material was no longer simply applied to an object. It became the object’s structure, rhythm and visual language.
A grape-based biomaterial beyond fashion
The finished stool brought Canyon beyond fashion and into furniture.
This is an important shift. Biomaterials are often first understood through garments, accessories or samples, but furniture asks different questions. It places the material under tension. It makes structure visible. It turns surface into something spatial, handled and lived with.
Canyon’s topographical surface gave the stool depth and tactility, while its ability to be cut into strips allowed Martina’s weaving technique to give it a new form. The collaboration showed how Canyon can operate as both surface and structure - a material with enough presence to become the focal point of an object, not simply its covering.
Integrating SmartDPP traceability
The project also included a digital product passport developed with SmartDPP.
By scanning the stool, visitors could access information about where the materials were made, how they were made, and impact data including carbon and water footprint information.
That made the collaboration more than a craft experiment. It became a traceable material object - one where beauty, making and information were held together.
For Planet of the Grapes, this is a particularly strong example of where material storytelling can go next. The object did not only show what Canyon looked like. It allowed people to understand where it came from, how it had been processed, and what kind of footprint sat behind it.
This matters because traceability is becoming part of how future-facing materials build trust. For a grape-based biomaterial like Canyon, the story cannot sit only in the surface. Designers, brands and buyers increasingly need access to the information behind the material: origin, process, composition, impact and application.
Planet of the Grapes’ work with digital product passports speaks directly to that shift. Through SmartDPP, and more broadly through the Positive Luxury Digital Product Passport, traceability becomes a visible credibility point rather than background information. It gives the material a clearer proof layer, and elevated insight.
For Canyon, that is especially powerful. A material shaped from grape marc, cut into ribbons, woven into furniture and connected to transparent product information becomes a way to show h
Canyon, cut into ribbons and woven into object form
The Martina Spetlova collaboration shows Canyon at its most materially intelligent.
It proves that Canyon can be cut cleanly. When worked into ribbons or strips, Canyon can be woven and translated into furniture. It also shows how a grape-based biomaterial can sit within a luxury craft context without relying on imitation. Canyon brings its own language: matte, irregular, structured, tactile and quietly expressive.
The addition of SmartDPP made that language more transparent. The stool became a meeting point between craft, biomaterial development, furniture and traceability - a finished object with its material story built in.
For Planet of the Grapes, this remains one of the clearest demonstrations of Canyon’s potential beyond fashion: a grape-based material shaped through skill, held in woven tension, and made legible through digital traceability.
Moving biomaterials forward
Interested in exploring grape-derived biomaterials for applications in fashion, accessories, interiors, mobility or luxury packaging?
Discover the Planet of the Grapes Material Library or get in touch to discuss sampling, applications and collaborations.
