Inspired by fears about radiation rain and acid rain after the devasting earthquake in Japan, Dahea Sun’s ‘Rain Palette’ project took a poetic approach to visualising the quality of air using rainwater. She has used natural dye processes to create a collection of garments, which can change colour in the rain. Her idea is to use the tag of the garment as a ph reader and she envisages an app that can scan the garment and give a ph level reading for the acidity level of the rain. This data can be pooled and used for mapping global ph levels. Her concept showcases how fashion could potentially map data to promote corporate environment responsibility.
The project to grow victimless leather by the SymbioticA group in Australia demonstrated how living tissue could be multiplied to make a seamless jacket. Amy Congdon, a researcher at Central St Martins was inspired by her own research residency at SymbioticA. She is exploring how biotechnology can be used to design new hybrid materials, which can be ethically and sustainably grown.
Shamees Aden collaborated with leading protocell scientist Martin Hanczyc, to develop her interest in the protocell, taking nonliving material and culturing it in the lab and making it behave as if it was living. She is developing wearable products using protocells and imagining future designers using these biological tools
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