07/10/2026
Turn over a box of crackers and you get a full ingredient list. Turn over a piece of drywall, insulation, or flooring, and you get nothing. Not because the information doesnโt matter, just because nobodyโs required to give it to you here in the US.
Catherine Murphy [ Catherine Murphy Studio ], Education Director at Healthy Materials Lab, broke it down in this reel: Europe regulates that transparency. The US doesnโt, so itโs on architects and designers to do that digging themselves, usually one spec sheet at a time.
Thatโs exactly the gap Healthy Materials Labโs courses exist to close, so building pros can make confident, healthier material choices without losing hours to research every single time.
Weโve admired this organization for some time. Theyโre a design research lab out of Parsons School of Design, built around the idea that health belongs at the center of every design decision, and weโre grateful for how much clarity they bring to a genuinely murky corner of this industry. Their courses are linked from Parsons Healthy Materials Lab
And when youโre ready to source the materials themselves, our team and showroom are a resource too.
Reposted Video by Parsons Healthy Materials Lab
โIf building materials came with ingredient labels like food, choosing healthier options would be much simpler.
Instead, architects, designers, and specifiers are often left to navigate complex safety data, certifications, and limited ingredient disclosures just to understand whatโs in the products they specify.
Even at their strongest, regulations donโt require the level of transparency needed to make fully informed decisions.
Thatโs why material health knowledge is so important.
At Healthy Materials Lab, our courses are designed to help you understand what to look for, where to find reliable information, and how to confidently select healthier, lower-carbon materials - so you can spend less time researching and more time designing.
Start learning from the bio linkโ ๐ป
