Harvested and Grown: the rise of a new bio-materiality

Keynote abstract: We are in the midst of a transition from the industrial revolution to a biological revolution and this will have a great impact on what and how we design in the future. Not only we can acknowledge the advantage of biological systems in terms of zero waste, minimum use of energy and materials, but with synthetic biology, we can now ‘biofabricate’ like Nature does. Leather grown in a lab, yeast reprogrammed to produce silk, bacteria that grow a shoe, are but a few examples of current biotechnological breakthroughs. This keynote will map out the current landscape of biodesign and examine the rise of this new bio-materiality and its implication on design research. From botanical experiments to synthetic biology propositions, this paper will present a series of design case studies that question the notion of ‘knowledge making’ in the context of working with living systems. What becomes of the design process when working with living materials? If we can turn a yeast into a living factory, what language will designers need to learn? Could the intersection of design and biology lead to novel sustainable fabrication processes? What are the ethical implications of biofabrication?