Founded by Julia Lohmann, the Department of Seaweed works with chemists and biologists to explore new ways to make use of seaweed’s aesthetic and functional properties. Lohmann creates abstract sculptures of varying sizes as well as garments, accessories, and products (such as lamps) that test the limits of her chosen medium. Learn more in "Designs for Different Futures" through March 8. 

Julia Lohmann (DE, 1977)

Waltraud cow-bench, 2004. Hand shaped leather, foam and wood, 63.5 × 76.2 × 167.6 cm

ジュリア・ローマンとゲロ・グルンドマンの新作展「Making the Known New」が秋葉原のKYOTO Design Lab東京ギャラリーで開催。昆布と竹を素材にした作品「海洋の竹」などが展示されている。(KYOTO Design Lab)

Co-existence (only one in ten of our cells is human) by Julia Lohmann Designed by Julia Lohmann with the help of Prof Michael Wilson and Dr Derren Ready, UCL Eastman Dental Institute, University College London. @ Wellcome Collection, History of Medicine Museum; 183 Euston Road, London.

"Only one in ten of our cells is human - the rest are microbes and multi-cellular, symbiotic organisms. Together, this blend of species forms a stable, living structure we think of as the body. So, in reality, the human body is more like an ecosystem that supports and is supported by millions of 'other' living things: micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and amoebae, as well as worms and mites that live on or inside us. A symbiotic existence is probably the most common form of life on this planet and we humans are popular hosts. This window installation was inspired by the unseen universe consisting of at least 2000 different species of microbes that inhabit our bodies. Only a small percentage of them are shown here, but the Petri-dish 'pixels' contain photographic images of colonies of a few of the most common. Unfortunately the vast majority of microbes that live on us have not yet been grown in the laboratory and so we do not know what their colonies would look like. The place of each microbe within the figure shows the region of the human body in which it most commonly lives."