Living Circular Labels (LCL)
A Caradt BAD Research Project
Project Leader(s):
Clarice Risseeuw – PhD Researcher
Research Professor(s):
Dr. Elvin Karana – Research Professor Biobased Art and Design
Principle Investigator(s):
Evy Murraij – Researcher
Project Partner(s):
TU Delft, faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft; Bio4Life BV, Capelle aan den IJssel ; Hoekmine BV, Utrecht
Funding:
SIA KIEM CE
Project team
Serena Buscone – Biolab technician Caradt
Colin Ingham – CEO Hoekmine
Radi Hamidjaja – Scientist Hoekmine
Arjan Klapwijk – CEO Bio4Life
Project Period
September 2022 – August 2023
Research Group Biobased Art and Design (BAD)
The research group Biobased Art and Design capitalises on the role of artistic practice in unlocking the unique potentials of living organisms for everyday materials and communicating these to a broader public. In doing so, the group aims to instigate and accelerate our widespread understanding, further development and usage of such materials. The group’s research approach encourages tangible interactions with the living organisms, such as algae, fungi, plants and bacteria, to explore and understand their unique qualities and constraints through diverse technical and creative methods taking artists, designers and scientists as equal and active partners in the material creation.
Project
What if organisms could act as living sensors, and communicated with us through vivid colour changes?
Within the field of biodesign, designers, artists, and scientists are collaborating with living organisms to produce new materials with ecological benefits. When keeping organisms alive in the final design, such artefacts also offer novel responsive behaviour and interaction possibilities: new ways of living in collaboration with nature. This research project focuses on Flavobacteria, which are marine organisms that produce vivid, angle-dependent colour as their cells organise into structures that interact with light. This optical effect – also found in the feathers of a peacock – is called structural colour. A Flavobacteria colony’s form, texture, and angle-dependent colour changes in response to diverse environmental factors, such as humidity and temperature. This has led microbiologists at Hoekmine BV to envision Flavobacteria-based biosensors. Developing living sensors by integrating these non-harmful bacteria in biobased and biodegradable flexible materials would result in sustainable alternatives to electronic sensors, and thus minimal implementation of toxic and scarce materials. To develop such biosensors, we are collaborating with Hoekmine BV and Bio4Life, a company specialised in biobased and biodegradable labels. We aim to contribute to the development of a circular economy where digital technology and organic systems merge by designing Living Circular Labels.
When growing on a semi-solid surface, Flavobacteria tend to organize their cells into so-called photonic crystals, producing vivid structural colour
In this research project, we cultivate these bacteria in a sterile lab-setting to get a better understanding of their temporality and responsive behaviour.
Flavobacteria's living colour is highly affected by environmental factors, such as the humidity and temperature.
In this project, different materials are explored for embedding the bacteria in flexible habitats. Image by Ward Groutars.