Bio/material
Bio/material
Bio/material
Bio-Material Innovation & Circular Systems
Investigation of bio-based materials and sustainable fabrication processes. This research explores alternatives to synthetic materials through cultivation of bacteria, fungi, and other biological systems, developing new approaches to environmentally conscious design.
The Roots - Making use of sidestreams
The aim of The Roots project is to reduce agricultural waste and to promote environmentally friendly practices in the fashion and materials industry.
This project has been exhibited at
The Dutch Design Week 2025
Helsinki
Design Week 2024
Project team: Saskia Helinska, Krista Virtanen, Marja-Inkeri Murphy and Ilona Valovirta.
Root mats are a potential by-product of vertical wheatgrass farming. Instead of composting wheatgrass, this project makes leather-like materials from its roots. This new material experiment can be dyed using natural dyes, making it a fully biobased and biodegradable alternative to various everyday products for the future. It can be sewn and feels pleasant to the touch. The material was developed as a team project during ChemArts courses, the bag itself was sewn by Krista Virtanen. Pictures by team, cover by Bryan Saragosa
Biomaterial-Based Soft Robotics
Sustainable Alternatives to Vinyl and Silicone for Prototyping Haptic Interfaces. This project explores biodegradable biopolymers like gelatine, agar, and sodium alginate as sustainable alternatives to vinyl and silicone for prototyping haptic interfaces, highlighting their benefits of compostability, organic textures, and accessibility despite limitations in flexibility and durability. Presented at ACM Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI) 2025
In the context of the growing importance of more sustainable research practices in HCI, this project adopts a material-driven design approach to propose biodegradable biomaterials for prototyping soft robotics. Biopolymers such as gelatine, agar and sodium alginate have limited flexibility, functional consistency and durability compared to synthetic, well-established materials like vinyl or silicone. They offer, however, unique properties of organic textures, compostability, accessibility and in some cases reusability, among others. By exploring these properties and making informed design decisions, designers may find use for them as an alternative to vinyl and silicone in select applications within the HCI domain.
Read at ACM library
CelluloSIKA - reusing wood waste for digital fabrication
Development of a sustainable alternative to polyurethane foam for digital fabrication, utilizing wood waste from Fablabs to create a circular, reusable material.
Most materials used in digital fabrication processes lack environmental sustainability. The project addresses this by developing an alternative to Sika block - a commonly used polyurethane foam material for CNC machining and vacuum forming.
The challenge was to create a more sustainable material that could replace Sika while meeting specific requirements: utilizing wood chips from Fablabs, being easily replicable with accessible materials, and creating a circular system where the material can be ground after use, dissolved in ater, and cast again.
Conductive biomaterials
Exploring the potential of mycelium-based materials through collaborative design with living organisms. This research investigates how we can work with fungal networks to create sustainable, biodegradable materials with unique properties.
This project explores the fascinating world of mycelium, the root network of fungi, as a sustainable material source. By working with living organisms, we investigate how to grow and shape mycelium into functional materials that can replace traditional plastics and composites. The research focuses on understanding growth conditions, material properties, and potential applications in design and manufacturing.
These materials are fully biodegradable, lightweight, and can be grown into specific shapes, making them ideal for sustainable product design and packaging applications.
Mycelium - co-design with fungal organisms
Exploring the potential of mycelium-based materials through collaborative design with living organisms. This research investigates how we can work with fungal networks to create sustainable, biodegradable materials with unique properties.
This project explores the fascinating world of mycelium, the root network of fungi, as a sustainable material source. By working with living organisms, we investigate how to grow and shape mycelium into functional materials that can replace traditional plastics and composites. The research focuses on understanding growth conditions, material properties, and potential applications in design and manufacturing.
These materials are fully biodegradable, lightweight, and can be grown into specific shapes, making them ideal for sustainable product design and packaging applications.
