This article was taken from the January 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
British designer Suzanne Lee makes fabrics using living things. "I am a bio-couturist," she says. "I bring biological processes together with couture techniques." The first material she adapted -- bacterial cellulose -- is made by Gluconacetobacter xylinus; as they ferment glucose, the organisms produce a mat of cellulose on the surface of the liquid. "This material resembles leather," says Lee. But before commercialising the fabric, she wanted to focus on biomaterials research. "Bacterial cellulose was just one in a spectrum of materials made from micro-organisms, so I started working with other labs."
Lee, 43, runs a consultancy called Biocouture, where she helps scientists and designers at places such as Tufts University, Massachusetts, develop new types of leather, silk and other fabrics. She trained as a fashion and textiles designer with conventional couture designers such as Jenny Packham and Hussein Chalayan ("I was never conventional myself"), and also worked with South African designer Hamish Morrow, creating materials such as water-resistant silk for sportswear. She now collaborates with American bio-leather company Modern Meadow. "They take living cells from an animal and grow it into a sheet of material," she explains. "You have control over quality, shape, colour -- it can all be designed in before you even grow it."
Lee is also working on developing new types of silks. "Some people are trying to engineer animals to produce spider silk, some are reverse-engineering silk so it is a liquid rather than a fibre," she says. Next on her list: to teach people how to grow their own bacterial cellulose. "I'm excited about printing with living, organic matter. Researchers, designers, artists and architects around the world are all thinking about bio-futures."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
