I've been following the work of Future Textiles designer Amy Congdon for several weeks, and had the honour of being invited to an exhibition and workshop called Design Beyond Making. This was a design fictions exhibit, contemplating how our use of materials will change in a biotech driven world.
Amy and her advanced biologist/informatics counterpart J.J. Hastings make up the biohack duo The Kitchen. Their current project involves de-cellularisation, which is the process of stripping organic matter of its cellular matter and leaving behind only its extracellular matrix. This process is usually reserved for medical research, and is much more exhaustive than what is done in the studio, but by approaching and adapting the technique from a design standpoint, the possibility of creating an entirely new type of material has emerged.
It was a great workshop, and also really interesting chatting with Amy and J.J. about breaking down the boundaries between science and design, how it changes each of their perceptions of their work and what they think it means for the future.
Now it's time for me to start thinking how I can use this for my own endeavours. What I'd really love to do is take something like and apply it to my own body. We were making things out of bacon or even sheep's heart, but what if you could make things out of humans? I've always had this interest in pushing those creepy and slightly disgusting boundaries.
I found it really interesting how they took this deeply exhaustive medical research process, simplified it, and adapted it for a creative purpose. It's this type of "data" conversion that I've been thinking about lately. Of course it all requires a coherent understanding of biology, which is where J.J. comes in.
Amy and her advanced biologist/informatics counterpart J.J. Hastings make up the biohack duo The Kitchen. Their current project involves de-cellularisation, which is the process of stripping organic matter of its cellular matter and leaving behind only its extracellular matrix. This process is usually reserved for medical research, and is much more exhaustive than what is done in the studio, but by approaching and adapting the technique from a design standpoint, the possibility of creating an entirely new type of material has emerged.
By simplifying the process to suit a designer's needs, and combining it with more traditional textiles methods like dyeing and sewing, it's opened up a new perspective on the types of materials we have available to us, and the ethics of what is and isn't acceptable to consume, whether we are eating it or using it to make things.
Now it's time for me to start thinking how I can use this for my own endeavours. What I'd really love to do is take something like and apply it to my own body. We were making things out of bacon or even sheep's heart, but what if you could make things out of humans? I've always had this interest in pushing those creepy and slightly disgusting boundaries.
I found it really interesting how they took this deeply exhaustive medical research process, simplified it, and adapted it for a creative purpose. It's this type of "data" conversion that I've been thinking about lately. Of course it all requires a coherent understanding of biology, which is where J.J. comes in.
