Transversal

Commissioned by the Cooper Hewitt Museum, Transversal is a silk sculpture we designed and created in synergy with the parameters of our unique bacteria dye protocols. The piece explores how scale-up of biofabrication processes can be achieved not only by focusing on pigment produced per milligram through the fermentation process, but by emphasising the assembly of biofabricated components. With a focus on craft-oriented techniques, we have cut silk organza on a bias before applying our bacteria dye protocols to the material. Each finished element is then constructed to a frame. The outcome is a malleable, breathable structure, pigmented with painterly forms of S.coelicolor. Transversal demonstrates how textiles as a substrate to living organisms can provide a spatial medium to create innovative architectural forms.