UMT — Coral Reef Rehabilitation Tiles

We believe in contributing back to our environment. In a coral resettlement project with Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) for the Bidong Island Reef, we created porous ceramic tiles engineered for coral polyp attachment — a clear demonstration that ceramic manufacturing can serve ecological, not just aesthetic, ends.

Engineering the substrate

This was ceramics as a functional, scientific instrument rather than a decorative object. The tiles needed a porous body that gives new coral an easy anchor point to grow, and had to be marine-safe and able to withstand prolonged seawater immersion once placed on the seabed.

What we delivered

We tuned the ceramic body and firing to meet the research team’s substrate requirements, producing tiles for direct seabed deployment. We are formalising an ongoing agreement with UMT to develop ceramic coral-rehabilitation solutions further — turning a one-off contribution into a long-term environmental partnership.