Primitives

15/11/2025

Scientists and divers are slowly reviving the underwater forests along California’s northern coast by planting kelp seedlings and removing purple sea urchins before they can overgraze the reefs. As a result, kelp cover this year is 10× higher than it was at its low point in 2023.

Read more about the restoration efforts at the link in our bio.

Video by
is is partnering with local divers to remove those same purple urchins from restoration sites and transform them into Urchinite™, our marine-born biomarble used for countertops, furniture, and architectural surfaces.

31/10/2025

Grateful for our work on .IS to be featured in 's story on the fight to save California's kelp forests 🌊

The article follows the Kitahara family, Japanese American divers who've worked these waters since the early 1900s. Where their ancestors once harvested abalone from thriving kelp forests, today the seafloor is carpeted in purple urchins.

Our founder is working with divers like Mickey Kitahara to turn this crisis into opportunity. Every countertop made from Urchinite biomarble supports the revival of kelp forest ecosystems, and the communities alongside it.

It's about more than materials. It's also about preserving multigenerational fishing communities and bringing back what's been lost.

🔗 https://shorturl.at/9IYGr

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23/10/2025

🎉 Grateful to be featured in The New York Times for our work transforming overpopulated purple sea urchins into regenerative materials. It’s part of a broader effort to help restore California’s kelp forest ecosystems.

This story celebrates the collaboration between divers, scientists, designers, and community partners working together to bring back the coast’s underwater forests. 🌊

You can read the full article and dive into our collective effort to restore California’s kelp forests:
🔗 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/climate/california-kelp-restoration.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

📸 Glenna Gordon, Photographer
✍️ Raymond Zhong, Reporter

Partners featured in the article:
.io .is

23/10/2025

How does a Biomarble restore a Kelp Forest? 🌊🌿

For every 40 square foot of Urchinite, 1,000 square foot of sea urchin are cleared to make way for kelp regrowth. Each piece helps transform urchin-covered seafloors into thriving kelp forests.

Urchinite is a seasonal, regenerative material. Each sample box includes five unique biomarble designs created from this season’s harvest.

✨ You can order a sample box to experience the latest colors, patterns, and finishes shaped by the ocean’s renewal.
Choosing Urchinite supports active kelp restoration along the California coast and contributes to a more regenerative built world.

🛒 Order sample boxes through the link in our bio.

10/04/2025

After culmination of years of research at Primitives, we’re launching MARBLIS (https://marblis.com) to tackle the problem of purple sea urchins destroying vital kelp forests. Our unique solution: transforming purple urchin shells into the World's First Biomarble - Urchinite™. To designers & builders out there, it's available now for project collabs 👉 https://marblis.com/projects

Over 90% of kelp forests in California is gone, in part due to the 10,000% increase in purple sea urchins over the last decade. We are restoring kelp forests by turning urchins into architectural stone. Once deemed a "zombie" nuisance, the purple sea urchin is now being reimagined as a symbol of recovery and transformation, where each surface is traceable to a marine restoration event.

Primitives Biodesign develops advanced materials that drives nature and ecosystem restoration.