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A project titled “Sympoiesis” from designer Iris van Herpen and biodesigner Christopher Bellamy of Bio Crafted, lit up the runway at Paris Haute Couture Week, in early July of this year. The collaboration allowed them to utilize the capabilities of living microorganisms, including bioluminescent microalgae.
Of the 17 looks presented in the show, the opening one is said to be a first-of-its-kind Living Look, created from 125 million bioluminescent algae which are alive and emit light in response to the movement of the wearer. The garment brings together two worlds, fashion and nature, in a collaboration involving biophysicists from the University of Amsterdam.
The bioluminescent dress is composed of a gel material that incorporates millions of single-celled bioluminescent algae of the species Pyrocystis lunula, named after their moon-like shape. Among other species, these cells are the reason for Zeevonk, which is bioluminescent blooms of algae that paint the seaside in a mysterious glow, especially bright where waves break at the shore.
Following that, over the past few years, Schramma and Jalaal collaborated with Chenghai Li and Prof. Shengqiang Cai at the University of California San Diego. Together with bioluminescence researcher Prof. Michael Latz from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, they developed a novel material. Incorporating the cells in a gel matrix they created a flexible yet resistant substance which emits light upon deformation while keeping the cells alive even outside of water.
In their collaboration, Schramma and Jalaal extended their model to predict light emission based on the deformation of these complex material probes, rather than just of single cells. New materials bring innovation—and soon this particular material found various applications, especially in art and design—among them the works of biodesigner Chris Bellamy, who used the materials to cast various objects together with communities in French Polynesia, for whom bioluminescence of the sea is a more common phenomenon.
The next step was the one from biodesign to fashion. Over the past few months, Bellamy developed and refined the bioluminescent material in a collaboration led by van Herpen. Within the halls of the Science Park at the University of Amsterdam, in collaboration with Schramma and the lab of Jalaal at the Institute of Physics and the Science Park Technology Center, he refined the methods of developing this material and succeeded in creating the mechano-responsive bioluminescent elements in the garment that van Herpen designed and crafted.
To keep the garment alive, the atelier attentively cares for this living system, with humidity, temperature, and circadian rhythm all tuned to their natural marine home. Caring for the garment, and for the 125 million Pyrocystis lunula it contains, requires a symbiotic relationship and redefines our creation traditions entirely, as the garment is cultivated rather than constructed.
SOURCES: University of Amsterdam via phys.org and designboom.com.