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V.O.W N°8 (Video Of the Week, 21 - 27 February 2011)
How would you like to wear a jacket or a shirt made out of bacteria? Sounds weird? Well, Suzanne Lee, London based Senior Research fellow in the school of fashion and textiles at Central Saint Martins in London and creative director of BioCouture, creates garments from cellulose bacteria which grow in a bathtub using only green methods addressing in such as way ecological issues and exploring the future of fashion design in conjunction with technology. The cocktail is simple! She mixes a green tea solution with sugar solution and introduces yeast which then produces fibers, which in turn form a compact leathery like layer. This layer is then taken and dried out to take the final form. Lee also uses fruits and vegetables like blueberries and beetroot, completely natural products in order to make stains onto the fabrics creating patterns and designs. In the end what you get is a unique piece of clothing unlike anything you have seen before!
Suzanne Lee will host a workshop on 23 September 2011 at the 100% materials stand at 100% Design during London design week 2011 (22-25 September).
Image Courtesy of The Science Museum London
Jacket sleeve seam detail
Image Courtesy of The Science Museum London
About BioCouture
BioCouture aims to address ecological and sustainability issues around fashion.The BioCouture research project is harnessing nature to propose a radical future fashion vision.We are investigating the use of bacterial-cellulose, grown in a laboratory, to produce clothing.Our ultimate goal is to literally grow a dress in a vat of liquid
Image Courtesy of The Science Museum London
