Founded by George Beylerian in 1997, Material Connexion is a resource for materials. It was founded for the purpose of bringing an order to the idea of materials. The resource contains about 3000 individually selected materials sorted into 8 categories: polymers, glass, metals, ceramics, carbon-based materials, cement-based materials, natural materials and natural material derivatives. They give services such as consultancy, expertise, alerts, exhibitions, physical and online library, and magazine. Material Connexion does not get paid by the material manufacturers. It is self-supported and gets paid through the users of Material Connexion.
George Beylerian, at a conference Istanbul Design Week 2005 brought out the importance of materials in design and said that not every designer is aware of all the materials. He reported "Design and technology have to go together" and "The biggest partner of good design is good materials" in his speech. He gave examples from firms and designers who got access to the materials of their famous designs through Material Connexion. These examples included Nike, who has found mono-filament sleeving, normally used for covering of cables and used it for the famous Jordan shoes; and Aveda's Uruku line of cosmetics, created from recycled materials.
