Dress Made from Pure Mycelium

Introduction

Dutch designer Aniela Hoitink has made a revolutionary garment using pure mycelium, which is the vegetation part of a mushroom fungus.

Material and Techniques

"Mycelium has been predominantly used in a solid state in combination with a substrate."(Mail Online, 2016) However, Aniela developed texitiles consisting only mycelium after researching. Taking inspiration of the 'soft bodies' species that grow themselves repeatedly and follows some kings of modular pattern, Aniela built her textiles in module system. "The discs of mushroom stick to each other to form a fabric, allowing Aniela to shape a dress on a mannequin without any sewing."(Mail Online, 2016) It also allows all the material potentially to be used, without any leftover during the making process.. One big advantage of modules is that it could be easily assembled and disassemble. In such way, the garment could be easily repaired without interfering the look of the fabric, by simply adding a new patch to cover the broken part.  It becomes a living product. "'The garment can be built three-dimensionally and shaped whilst being made, fitting the wearer's wishes,' said Hoitink. 'Thus, it is possible to create mycelium patterns, to adjust the length of the garment or for example to add elements'."(Morby, 2016) The material is also biodegradable. It could be  left in the ground without creating any waste

Analysis

Textile is usually been regarded as a static object and the consistency is what we pursue. Nowadays, consumption rate is keeping increasing. Clothes are disposable and hardly be repaired if broken. The garments made from mycelium is a slow project in the fast mass production industry. "The Petri dishes have to be left for a week-and-a-half to allow them to grow and Aniela needed 350 discs to make one dress."(Mail Online, 2016) Although it is not efficient compared to other material, I think it is an advantage as the time need for growing adds liveness subtleness to the material and make the garments more cherishable. Aniela wanted to change the way we use textile and I think it is successful.

Reference

Morby, A. (2016). Aniela Hoitink creates dress from mushroom mycelium. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/04/01/aniela-hoitink-neffa-dress-mushroom-mycelium-textile-materials-fashion/ [Accessed 23 Dec. 2016].

Mail Online. (2016). Designer creates dress from MUSHROOM ROOT. [online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3561205/Is-FUNGUS-future-fashion-Designer-grows-eco-friendly-dress-mushroom-root-just-one-week.html [Accessed 22 Dec. 2016].

Fibre Extraction Technique Turns Plant Waste Into New Material

Introduction

Waste is not only an environmental problem but also and economic loss.  Because of the long degradation process, products have been accumulated forming a huge amount of waste. Designers have researched in transforming these leftover resources in the mass production industry to new materials. "Forest Wool" and "Piñatex" are two great examples.

"Forest Wool"

 The world’s primary ingredient of timber is pine trees. "Every year 600 million pine trees are cut down in the EU only. But there is more to the tree than just wood: pine needles account for 20 to 30 percent of its mass. " (Orjola, 2016) Designer Tamara Orjola researched the value of pine needles, which is the leftover material in the industry, and transformed it to an innovative and sustainable material.

"By crushing, soaking, steaming, binding and pressing the needles, Orjola extracts the pine needles' fibre and transforms it into textiles, composites, and paper. The process also allows essential oils and dye to be extracted and used." (Tucker, 2016) Orjola has made a pair of minimal benches and oval carpet from this material and exhibited them in dutch design week.

Because mass production is unwilling to adopt less sufficient source, valuable material and technique have been forgotten. Orjola's project is aim to bring that back.

"Piñatex"

Pineapple leaves have been regarded as an agricultural-by product and are often burned or left or rot. "An estimated 40,000 tons of this pineapple waste is generated globally each year" (Tucker, 2016) Piñatexis a unique natural and sustainably made from pineapple leaf. This animal-friendly material could be used as an alternative to leather.

" The fibres are extracted from the leaves during a process called decortication, which is done at the plantation by the farming community. Furthermore, the by-product of decortication is bio-mass, which can be further converted into organic fertilizer or bio-gas." "Both the extraction of the fibers and the consequent bio-mass will bring added revenue stream to the  farming communities." (Anam, 2016) The fibres have then been through an industrial process with local factories to become a nonwoven textile.

"The fabric is strong, versatile, breathable, soft, light, flexible, and can be easily printed on, stitched and cut." (Anam, 2016) It can be used for making clothes, shoes, bags or furniture.

Local Factories in the Philippines separate strains and felt them together into a non-woven fabric

Commonalities

These two projects are both extremely environmentally friendly. They focus on the leftover material which has usually been ignored,  and turned these waste into new materials for production. In terms of techniques, they both transform the original material by extracting fibre from them. By doing this, the waste transformed to a completely different and biodegradable material.

Wider Implications of Nature Fibre

"There has been an increasing interest in biodegradable renew- able composites reinforced with plant fibers."(Faruk et al., 2012) These materials have been sufficient due to intensively researched developed and frequently applied new compositions and process.  While environmental awareness and the demand for sustainable technology is rapidly increasing.  "The use of natural fibers instead of traditional reinforcement materials, such as glass fibers, carbon, and talc, provides several advantages, including low density, low cost, good specific mechanical properties, reduced tool wear and biodegradability. " (Ayrilmis, Ashori and Heon, 2016) Furthermore, the ingredient is profoundly avaliable make it a good area to research in. Plant fiber has been used to produce packaging, furniture, clothes, etc. I believe as the environmental awareness increasing and technology developing, nature fibre will be developed into a greater variety of products and commonly used by people.

Reference

Anam, A. (2016). Introducing Piñatex™ - ananas anam. [online] Available at: http://www.ananas-anam.com/pinatex/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016].

Ayrilmis, N., Ashori, A. and Heon, J. (2016). Properties and Utilization of Plant Fibers and Nanocellulose for Thermoplastic Composites. In: P. Visakh and S. Lüftl, ed., Polyethylene-Based Biocomposites and Bionanocomposites, 1st ed. Scrivener Publishing LLC, p.406.

Faruk, O., Bledzki, A., Fink, H. and Sain, M. (2012). Biocomposites reinforced with natural fibers: 2000–2010. Progress in Polymer Science, 37(11), pp.1552-1596.

Orjola, T. (2016). Forest wool. [online] Tamaraorjola.com. Available at: http://www.tamaraorjola.com [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016].

Tucker, E. (2016). Leather alternative Piñatex is made from pineapple leaves. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/06/09/pinatex-ananas-anam-vegan-leather-alternative-ethical-recycled-pineapple-leaves-sustainable-materials-design-camper/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016].

Tucker, E. (2016). Tamara Orjola makes furniture and textiles using pine needles. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/07/tamara-orjola-forest-wool-pine-needle-furniture-textiles-sustainable-dutch-design-week-2016/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016].

The Miracle of Self-cleaned Wall

Introduction

Biomimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of mother nature to find solutions to complex design problems. "Yet as we become more and more concerned about the environmental impact of our behaviour, biomimicry is becoming fashionable."(O'Connell, 2009) StoCoat Lotusan is a biomimicry product that already on the market that yield some big results. It duplicated the microstructure of the lotus leaf, to create self-cleaning wall surface.

StoCoat Lotusan

The conventional facades that exposed to the prevailing weather usually damp and dirty. StoCoat Lotusan is a facade paint that keeps walls clean and dry for longer, and therefore against algae, bacteria, and fungus to build up. It mimics the water repellent process discovered in the leaves of the lotus plant. "The fine structure of lotus leaf reduces the contact surface area water and dirt could cling to. Raindrops simply run off and take dirt with them."(StoLotusan Color, n.d.) StoCoat Lotusan is the first product that has incorporated the technical attributes of the lotus-effect. "It is available in various colour and could be applied to mineral, cementitious and concrete surfaces."  (StoLotusan Color, n.d.)

The microstructure of a lotus leaf at 7000 x magnification

The successful transfer of the lotus-effect into StoLotusan Colour.

Lotus Effect

the Lotus-Effect developed by botanist Dr. Wilhelm Barthlott. As mentioned above. It is about the self-cleaning system of the lotus leaf. "Scientists have discovered that this is because the surface of each leaf contains nanometer-sized waxy bumps that prevent dirt and water from adhering. Because the valleys between the bumps are too small for dirt particles to get into, the dirt stays suspended on the tops of the bumps. When a water droplet falls on the leaf, it is also suspended on top of the waxy bumps."(Nye, n.d.) Therefore, this "nano-mountain" structure is possible could be used to make all kinds of self-cleaning and non-stick material. StoLotusan paint is one successful example.

Analysis

I always think nature contains profound and genius precedents for creation. “If you look at all the creations that have gone extinct versus all that are still alive today, it’s a tenth of one percent,” (Benyus, 2002) Because of the nature selection process, the remains must have the best solution against the outer circumstance, and also work with the ecosystem. Nature could lead us to come up with inventive designs and productive, successful collaborations."Imitating natural systems is about trying to mimic the amazing effectiveness of ecosystems, where the waste from one system or animal is used as the nutrients for another," says Michael Pawlyn. we could learn a lot about sustainable and environmentally friendly design from nature. StoLotusan paint is one of the examples that borrow the self-efficient cleaning system from nature and therefore walls could last longer and look nicer.

I also realized that, while designing products or buildings,  it is important to think out of the things you are making and consider the influence it may cause to surrounding in a larger time frame like nature do.


Reference

Benyus, J. (2002). Biomimicry. 1st ed. New York: Perennial.

Nye, J. (n.d.). Lotus Leaf Effect Part 1: In Nature Part 2: In Technology. University of Wisconsin-Madison

O'Connell, S. (2009). Biomimicry: why the world is full of intelligent design. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/5479418/Biomimicry-why-the-world-is-full-of-intelligent-design.html [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016].

StoLotusan Color - The unique facade paint that keeps walls clean and dry for longer. (n.d.). 1st ed. [ebook] Sto Ltd. Available at: http://www.p3.co.uk/collateral/StoLotusan_Colour.pdf [Accessed 20 Dec. 2016].

Learning from nature | Michael Pawlyn | TEDxLondonCity2.0. (2016). [video].

3d-Printed Hair by MIT Research Group

Introduction

3D printing has been explored to produce a wide range of varieties of things in recent years, including cars, buildings, edible food and human skin. However, some things like hair, which consists of dense arrays of extremely fine feathers have always been a difficulty. The impracticality of direct print fine hair arrays on object's surfaces is due to the lack of an efficient digital representation of CAD models with dine surface texture(N. Hopkinson,2006).

Process

Researchers in MIT’s Tangible Media group have found a way to bypass a major design step in 3-D printing, to quickly and efficiently model and print thousands of hair-like structures. Instead of using CAD to draw thousands of individual hairs on a computer, the team built a new software platform, called “Cilllia,” that users directly generate printing layers that contain hair structure information for the 3D printer. "It also lets users define the angle, thickness, density, and height of thousands of hairs,with the precision of 50 um, in just a few minutes." (Chu, 2016))

Application

hair is actually a remarkably versatile material that can be used for a surprising number of applications. Cilllia’s 3D printed hair structures and surfaces can be used to produce everything from hairy jewelry, customized paint brushes, gearless motors, movable surfaces, adhesive surfaces and even next generation tactile surfaces.

“The ability to fabricate customized hair-like structures not only expands the library of 3-D-printable shapes but also enables us to design alternative actuators and sensors,”(Qu et al., 2016) the authors conclude in their paper. “3-D-printed hair can be used for designing everyday interactive objects.”

Analysis

This innovation project completely changed my understanding of 3d-prinitng. As I remember, products printed by the layered by layered method are usually hard and static. However, 3D printers now turn into producing things that are extremely tactile and organic, which only happened in nature before. It did not only print objects but also provided sensitive experiences.

The idea of rethinking the 3-D printing process itself and the purpose of 3-D printed objects is also very inspiring. It well demonstrates that the importance of not relying on machine, but fully understand and question it, hence developed better machine for more possibilities. We could question what other constraints of machines could be potentially challenged.

Reference

Chu, J. (2016). Need hair? Press “print”. [online] MIT News. Available at: http://news.mit.edu/2016/3-d-print-hair-0617 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2016].

N. Hopkinson, R.J.M. Hague, P.M. Dickens. Rapid Manufacturing, An Industrial Revolution For The Digital Age. Chichester, Wiley Publication, 2006, pp. 43–45.

Qu, J., Dublon, G., Cheng, C., Heibeck, F., Willis, K. and Ishii, H. (2016). Cilllia - 3D Printed Micro-Pillar Structures for Surface Texture, Actuation and Sensing. [online] pp.8-10. Available at: http://tmg-trackr.media.mit.edu/publishedmedia/Papers/607-Cilllia%20%203D%20Printed%20Micro/Published/PDF [Accessed 2 Dec. 2016].

Incidental Space in Architecture Binnale

Introduction

The Swiss pavilion is one of my favorites in the 15th Venice Architectural Biennale. The project called "Incidental space" designed by architect Christian Kerez, featuring a  cloud-like exterior and cavernous interior.

The Space

There are two openings in the craggy fibre-cement form, one for visitors to view inside and the other for visitors to clamber inside the space to physically sense the surface. it reminds me of climbing rockery when I was a child. Although the architecture is completely artificially formed, it alludes to structures found in geology and anatomy.

Process 

The structure was developed after manipulating over "three hundred small models made with wax, sugar, sand and sawdust." (Battista, 2016) Digital models in combination with virtual reality headsets were used while developing the form.  After casting them in plaster, the models were split open and their complex internal cavities were exposed. The model chosen for the exhibition had to be gradually broken into pieces during the process of optical and topographical scanning. 

"The full-scale version is made from panels of sprayed fibre cement with a thickness two centimetres, and finished using plotting and milling techniques to replicate the form of the model."(Maris, 2016)

Analysis

Most of the people, including myself, will start architectural projects via precedentS research and drawings. Models will be produced after a clear idea of spaces has been formed in the head. It is for better visualization. However, it is not the case for this project. This space is an experiment: "a fundamental research project investigating how architectural spaces might be conceived and might be built, both in the imagination and in technical terms. "As Kerez(2016) said, "with our goal of generating new experiences, we were forced to understand architectural design as an intellectual adventure, full of risk. Nonetheless, Incidental Space is emphatically not a space that has been created at random, or worse, a space that has generated itself."


By linking digital with manual processes, with the help of a variety of technical tools of translation, a highly detailed and organic architectural space has been created like a surprise. I think the amazing part for using materials in an innovation way is that without even knowing what result will come out, the technique and material itself could create a splendid surprise by the caprices of the incident, like this incidental space.

Reference

Battista, A. (2016). High Complexity in a Freely Formed Shell: "Incidental Space", The Swiss Pavilion @ The 15th International Architecture Exhibition. [online] Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion and Technology. Available at: http://irenebrination.typepad.com/irenebrination_notes_on_a/2016/05/incidental-space-swiss-pavilion.html [Accessed 16 Jan. 2016].

Christian, K. (2016). Incidental Space: Inside the Swiss Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale. [online] ArchDaily. Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/790410/incidental-space-inside-the-swiss-pavilion-at-the-2016-venice-biennale [Accessed 16 Dec. 2016].

Mairs, J. (2016). Christian Kerez installs cavernous cloud for Swiss pavilion. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/05/27/christian-kerez-cavernous-cloud-installation-swiss-pavilion-venice-architecture-biennale-2016/ [Accessed 16 Jan. 2016].