Materials Matter: Rare Earths. The Restart Project

Materials Matter: Rare Earths. The Restart Project

Rod Hunt was commissioned by The Restart Project to illustrate Materials Matter, educational resources to learn about the materials inside our electronics and their significance. Through hands-on activity, we reveal hidden environmental impacts of mobile phones and other electronics.

Rod Hunt / Illustration and Illustrated Maps – Map Illustrator, Isometric Illustrations, Cityscapes, Infographics & Animation – Materials Matter: Rare Earths. The Restart Project

Rod Hunt was commissioned by The Restart Project to illustrate Materials Matter, educational resources to learn about the materials inside our electronics and their significance. Through hands-on activity, we reveal hidden environmental impacts of mobile phones and other electronics. Materials Matter is a printed leaflet, set of cards and script for disassembly and reassembly of a mobile.

Materials Matter is a printed leaflet, set of cards and script for disassembly and reassembly of a mobile. Participants of all ages can learn about the raw materials inside electronics by reading our leaflet and using our cards to pair with mobile phone components. These materials focus on a specific group of “critical” raw materials, of significant economic importance, presenting a supply risk. As our electronics have become more miniaturised, they have become more materially complex. Sometimes it is hard to envision everything that went into getting the materials in our products. If we challenge ourselves, we can learn how land, the environment and people are impacted by the production of the things we all buy.


The Restart Project is a people-powered social enterprise that aims to fix our relationship with electronics.