Piñatex – Carmen Hijosa – (Spain)

Kingdom: Vegetabile. //Description “Develops a sustainable textile made of pineapple leaves’ fibres as an alternative to leather. After 15 years of working in the design and manufacturing of leather goods, Carmen Hijosa, a Spanish citizen, was sent to the Philippines to help develop the leather industry. Her intense research on pineapple fibres led to the…

De Algarum Natura – Officina Corpuscoli – (The Netherlands)

Kingdom: Vegetabile. //Description “De Algarum Natura originated as an investigation in the possibility of making effective use of the vast amount of seaweeds, which constantly accumulate on the worldwide strands. Triggered by the potential residing within such overflow of marine biomass, Officina Corpuscoli decided to explore the possibility of creating materials from algae, by first…

The Unimaginary Project – Beatrice Cordara – (The Netherlands)

Kingdom: Vegetabile. //Description “The Unimaginary Project is a series of stools, benches, small tables born to tease curiosity to make people get closer to ‘design objects’.” (Beatrice Cordara, 2015) Material Qualities Kingdom Attributes Matte Textured Warm Expendable Rough Discontinue Surface Pattern Light Irregular Specific Material Attributes Translucent Sonorous Cheap Fluffy Warm Flexible Bumpy Colorless Airy…

About a Pinetree – Sarmīte Poļakova– (The Netherlands)

Kingdom: Vegetabile. //Description “This project focuses on the relationship between humans and trees beyond the limited, economic view of trees as commodities. Beneath the thick and hard character of the outer bark, the Pine’s inner bark actually has leather-like properties. This soft material has a lifespan of up to two years, which this design approach…

Sugar Glass – Fernando Laposse – (Mexico)

Kingdom: Vegetabile. //Description “The project is a combination between kitchen crafts and a basic industrial process of manufacture. These drinking glasses are made 100% of melted sugar which is roto-moulded into a hollow drinking vessel and drive inspiration from Murano glass art and cinema break away glass props. They can be batch produced by using…

Leather Sun clocks – Lina Patsiou – (United Kingdom)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “Greek-born, London-based designer Lina Patsiou has created a series of leather clocks inspired by the way the material interacts with the sun. Like human skin, leather darkens significantly after prolonged sun exposure. Patsiou explains, “I was in London when I was developing the project and waiting for a sunny day to do…

BioElectric – Jeongwon Ji – (Korea)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “When life gives you mitten crabs, make bioplastic. The Chinese mitten crab, an invasive species from East Asia, gets its name because it looks like it’s wearing a pair of furry mittens on its claws. But it’s not so cute. The crab negatively impacts native wildlife in Europe and the U.S., where…

Grow a Roll – Stefan Schwabe – (United Kingdom)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “This set-up investigates how bacterial cellulose can be guided to grow an endless roll of material. A stepper motor slowly turns a shaft which pulls the cellulose layer out of the nutrient liquid. The apparatus plays with the idea of harvesting a living material by allowing the growth to proceed constantly.”. (Schwabe,…

Biocouture – Suzanne Lee – (New York)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “Biocouture is building an open source ‘bioneer’ community of material innovators to catalyze an explosion of product development in this area. Suzanne Lee makes fabrics using living things. “I am a bio-couturist,” she says. “I bring biological processes together with couture techniques.” The first material she adapted — bacterial cellulose — is…

Cooked Wool – Freyja Sewell – (United Kingdom)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “As we become increasingly bombarded with information and stimulation, the world is becoming a louder place. in an initiative that goes beyond retail, Freyja Sewell has pioneered ‘headspace meditation pods’ from cooked wool – celebrating the power of silence, allowing to see the beauty in function and find calmness among the crowds.…

Coleoptera – Aagje Hoekstra– (The Netherlands)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “In the Netherlands, mealworms are bred for the animal food industry. Mealworms are the larval form of the mealworm beetle, which dies three to four months after laying its eggs. Because the beetle is at the end of it’s life cycle, it is seen as waste. Aagje gives these beetles a second…

Ruminant Bloom – Julia Lohmann – (United Kingdom)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “With Ruminant Bloom, Lohmann pushes the boundaries of what’s acceptable. The lamps’ decorative and light structures are made of tripe, or preserved sheep and cow stomachs. The initial attraction to the object turns into a moment of disgust, followed by fascination. And it’s this evolution of feeling that is the most valuable…

Hidden Beauty – Studio Gutedort– (Germany)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “Hidden Beauty- Inner Skins asks the question of whether or not we can overcome stereotypical aesthetics and appreciate beauty for its appearance: how can we change our habitual perception? Based on experimental material research, inner skins from sheep, pigs and cows, animal entrails like bladders and intestines that are usually considered as…

Hair Highway – Studio Swine – (United Kingdom & Japan)

Kingdom: Animale. //Description “Hair Highway explores the potential of human hair beyond its wildly expanding role in the beauty industry. As the world’s population increases, human hair is re-imagined as an abundant and renewable alternative to diminishing resources such as tortoise shell or tropical wood. Based around the notion of the ancient Silk Road, which…