Installations
Objects
Research
Bio
Carla Alcalà Badias (Tàrrega, Spain, 1997) is an industrial designer, artist and researcher who works with earth, fire and living matter.
Her practice approaches materials as active participants rather than passive resources, drawing on new materialisms and traditional craft knowledge to imagine more reciprocal ways of making. Her work takes the form of objects, installations and shared infrastructures for material experimentation.
She is currently pursuing a PhD at the Universitat Politècnica de València, where her research explores the potential of black pottery for regenerative design. She also teaches at the university and gives lectures and workshops across educational and cultural contexts.
Selected exhibitions include MU Hybrid Art House, Centre del Carme and Matadero Madrid. Her residencies include Domaine de Boisbuchet, Pluto and Medialab Matadero. In 2024, she received the Bio Art and Design Award and will join the European Ceramic Workcentre (EKWC) as an artist-in-residence in 2027.
info@carlalcala.com
@carlalcalabadias
Universitat Politècnica de València (ES)
2024-28
Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design (MA), Specialisation Social Design
Design Academy Eindhoven (NL)
2019-21
Bachelor in Industrial Design and Product Development, Summa Cum Laude
CEU Cardenal Herrera, Valencia (ES)
2015-19
Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporània (CCCC)
2026
Sobremesa (group)
Aires Mateus, Lisbon Design Week
2025
Trastos (group)
Zape Valencia
2025
Microbial Prophetesses x Sensing Otherness (group)
MU Hybrid Art House
2024-25
Post-Carbon Alchemy (group)
Material District Utrecht
2024
Cripto-Mitologías Húmedas (solo)
Nave 0, Matadero Madrid
2023
Twisting & Twining (group)
MUT Design Studio, Valencia Design Fest
2022
Désign Vegetal (group)
Domaine de Boisbuchet, France Design Week
2022
Private_Eye_Butler_Spy (group)
ARCAM, Architecture Centre Amsterdam
2021
Graduation Show (group)
Design Academy Eindhoven, Dutch Design Week
2021
The Object is Absent (group)
MU Hybrid Art House, Dutch Design Week
2020
2027
Portal Residency, Pluto x Acción Cultural Española (AC/E)
Espacio Pluto, Valencia (ES)
2025
ai2 Artistic Residency
Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
2024
Domaine de Boisbuchet x Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) Residency
Domaine de Boisbuchet
2023
Situated Research Residency
Medialab Matadero
2022-23
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
2025
Bio Art and Design (BAD) Award 2024
MU Hybrid Art House, Bio Art Lab, Dutch Design Foundation and Next Nature
2024
Distributed Design Mobility Scheme Prize 2023-24
Distributed Design, Co-funded by the European Union
2024
Creative Exchange Residency for Craft Practitioners 2023-25
World Crafts Council Europe (WCC), Co-funded by the European Union
2024
Extraordinary End-of-career Award for the Best Academic Record in Engineering and Architecture
CEU Cardenal Herrera, Valencia (ES)
2019
Universitat Politècnica de València
2024 - present
Workshop on plant ash glazes and wood firing. Collaboration with Jaime Romero (workshop)
Pluto
2026
Tecnologías Híbridas, MA in Interactive Technologies and Digital Fabrication (teaching)
Universitat Politècnica de València
2025
Toda Propiedad es una Historia Condensada, MA in Design (lecture)
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
2024
Seient, Ofrena. Summer Bio Lab 2024 (workshop)
Serra Segàrria, Alicante
2024
Twisting and Twining, MUT Design (workshop)
Domaine de Boisbuchet
2022
Reencantar a las Bestias (workshop)
Medialab Matadero
2022
Data Streams. MA Social Design (workshop)
Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE)
2021
EASD Valencia
2026
Congreso de Sostenibilidad y Economía Circular Aplicada (CSECA) (conference)
CSIC, Madrid, Spain
2026
Bienial International Conference for the Craft Sciences (BICCS) (conference)
The Craft Laboratory, Mariestad, Sweden
2025
MUT Design, Valencia (ES)
2021-23
Workshop Technician
Domaine de Boisbuchet (FR)
2023
Graphic Design and Art Direction
Closca Design, Valencia (ES)
2019
Furniture and Product Design
Yonoh Studio, Valencia (ES)
2018