Biomaterials, The Bedrock For The Times Ahead

Biomaterials may just become the bedrock for the times ahead. We speak to four names in the industry advancing this movement.

- Joy Ling

Just like sea levels and global temperatures, biomaterials are on the rise. Essentially defined as a substance engineered to take a form used to interact with components of living systems, the roughly half-century-old science has traditionally been used for diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. It was only a matter of time before it seeped into the commercial world.

Not to add to the disgruntled folk grousing about consumerism but at the consumption rate we’re speeding through, it’s only natural (ha!) to look to biodegradable matter as a solution to the mounting landfills. Sprinkle a little creativity and these alternative constructs transform into a teeming well of potential. Learn about the intriguing biobased materials from cow blood to cigarette butts, and the creative minds behind them.

MATERIALS: SEASHELLS

It’s grimy; it’s stinky. We could be talking about your old underwear, except what we’re referring to here contains 90 percent calcium carbonate that’s similar to the composition found in limestone. We’re talking about discarded seafood shells—seven million tons annually.

It was this extravagant aquafarming waste that caught the attention of Jihee Moon and Hyein Choi. Then just design products students at London’s Royal College of Art with a keen interest in sustainable design for the future, the pair landed on what the seafood industry neglected.

“We have seen natives in South Korea living near the country’s many mussel and oyster farms suffering from the odours of the waste, and it is also not good to see discarded shells piling up near the seaside,” they share of their story from witnesses with concern to officially investing their interest in the field as Studio newtab-22.