Richard Weston – Editor of arq from 2004 to 2013, and best known for his distinguished monographs on Alvar Aalto, Modernism and Utzon – reflects here on his more recent practice-led research into minerals, materials and digitisation. These studies explore the qualities of materials themselves but also the materialisation of imagery. This work is ‘practice-led’ in the way that the term is used in academe – meaning research which emerges out of a series of investigations – rather than ‘practice-led’ in the way architects might understand the term, as emerging from a professional office. As Weston reflects, however, this is work that would – most likely – be supported neither in the contexts of academe nor professional practice. It has been made possible instead by his ‘active retirement’. This paper explores how a chance encounter with an ammonite led Weston to Liberty's ‘Scarf Hall’, world-renowned in global fashion, a creative app for children called Molly's World, and virtual realities captured from microscopic mineral-worlds.