āThis is Aliveā an exhibition showcasing projects that realise a world where biological fabrication replaces traditional manufacture to create greener production methods and more eco-friendly materials that could provide a moe symbiotic relationship wih the world, which is an ideal that sustainability works towards.
A collaboration between textiles designer Natsai Chieza and Professor John Ward ofĀ Structural Molecular Biology at UCL the first collection of textiles printed by traditional screen printing method but using dyes created by bacteria have been conceptualised. TheĀ Rhizosphere Pigment Lab exploresĀ the botanic provenance of pigment-producing bacteria in a unique microbiology textile design studio. Its context lies in a new age of āsoftā meets āhardā, i.e. where programmable cell biology meets more traditional technology. By growing bacteria as an ink factory with the ultimate goal being the synthesis of bacteria to produce a predetermined colour chart.
This is an exciting research project that is in the process of being achieved. This is another path leading from my research into biomimicry, where instead of designing with biology in mind we actually use the biology within our processes, making them more natural and ecological as nature produces within itself and keeps a balance, it is human industrial production that is inefficient and disrupts the atmosphere. I really like the idea of this project, particularly as bacteria are so abundant and live in easy to create conditions needing only natural food supplies. This bio-hacking style method is also exciting to me as I really enjoy biology and textiles as a collaboration in this way and would love to explore more scientific research in this way in my own practice at some point.
http://thisisalive.com/faber-futures/
http://natsaiaudrey.tumblr.com/post/65950352236/faber-futures-the-print-room
Carole Collet also features in this exhibition, but this time with a more conceptual idea that is again in itās research stage to be realised in the future.
āBiolaceā proposes to use synthetic biology as an engineering technology to reprogram plants into multi-purpose factories. Imagine hydroponic organic greenhouses, where new species of plants would produce āaugmentedā food at the same time as growing fabrics from their roots. Plants become living machines, simply needing sun and water to be operational. In such a scenario, we would harvest fruits and fabrics at the same time from the same plants.
This would be an amazing development if achieved in the future, around 2050 she suspects. It would mean a green method of āgrowingā certain types of fabrics and would therefore eliminate whole sectors of industry and their energy use and emissions. She is inspired by current hybrid living technologies and therefore in theory this is achievable. She does highlight some issues with this project however in her video āBiolace, Design and Biofactureā about it being truly possible to control a living thing and what becomes of a designer if materials can be produced by programming another living thing.
http://thisisalive.com/biolace/
Ā I think both of these projects are interesting research developments and ideas about the potential of the future by building on technologies available today, particularly when they surround all natural processes that will benefit waste, energy, water and chemical consumption in the future, promising when these are the worst culprits in unsustainable textiles now.