Our Biomaterials and our journey with them.
I'm not a scientist or a researcher; I'm a creative person searching for a sustainable solution to fit into the fashion industry. When I started to think about a distinct, sustainable solution in the fashion industry, my thoughts initially went to upcycling, reusing, and repairing. Still, at the same time, the primary drivers of modern unsustainable practices in the fashion industry are fuelled by unethical supply chains and mass production. How do we pause the already-established production of synthetic materials? That deconstructs natural ecosystems to maintain the linear supply chain; this is our current production module, in which “finite resources are extracted to make products that are used – generally not to their full potential – and then thrown away (‘take-make-waste)”. These systems are set in profitable franchises that must adapt to a circular economy for sustainable change.
Through my research, circular economies were introduced to me, but I didn’t see all of their potential till I started to understand Biodesign. I was giddy over the idea of incorporating the use of living materials. Examples of early experimentation are working with fungi, algae and yeast. My first research source was Helen Storey and her design of ‘The Red Planet Dresses’ in 1995. While running a commercial fashion business, Storey donated dresses sprayed with air-purifying technology from her archive. The idea that an object can gain responsibility for controlling our climate control began a constant train of thought relevant to my creations. I've been working in the hospitality industry for five years now, and from my experiences, I've been exposed to the vast amount of food waste the sector is responsible for; being a server, is it my responsibility to notice this? Could I file an HR complaint? It's affecting my mental well-being, as I see unusable stock filling up 3+ bin bags, waste from plates, and food preparation waste. This is considered standard practice in the hospitality industry due to health regulations and standard practices. Still, with symbiosis, we aim to reinvent this waste by collaborating with the hospitality industry. All my food waste is collected from hospitality venues local to the Brighton area, and we base our outcomes around what waste product we have in abundance.
My whole Bio-leather production has been focused on continuing trial and error from start to finish; with my educational background, I have very little confidence in the scientific background surrounding the context of bioplastics/leathers, so this method has helped me create first and then understand after. When cultivating food waste, one of my main driving forces was developing biodegradable materials made from food waste products. These action points helped me deconstruct my methods to achieve my desired outcome for a natural, biodegradable plastic/ leather alternative. As I learn more through making, my understanding of the science background grows in a personal way: I don’t always understand the terminology, methods, or longstanding properties of the natural elements, but what I practice and experiment with shows me the potential of climate responsible materials and motivates me to learn more to provide a more extensive resource library for symbiosis.
