The explorer jacket It’s not your usual anorak. Its color does not come from dyes, but from a pigment-producing bacteria called Streptomyces coelicolor. When applied directly to a fabric and allowed to incubate, the bacterial cells produce a compound in a spectrum from reds and pinks to blues and purples, in striking patterns that evoke the grain of polished marble.
This jacket is just one of the unusual products on sale at Normal phenomena of life (NPOL), an online platform launched in 2023 by Natsai Audrey Chieza, founder of London-based research and development studio Faber Futures, and Christina Agapakis, creative director of Boston-based biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks. Your goal? Harness the power of living organisms to develop materials and objects. This is biodesign.
“Nature has evolved over billions of years to assemble atoms in much smarter and more efficient ways than humans have been able to achieve. And so, as we seek to decarbonize and divest from fossil fuels, it turns out that nature has solutions that biotechnology allows us to take advantage of,” says Chieza, who has a bachelor’s degree in architecture but became fascinated by biodesign while pursuing a master’s degree in materials futures at Central Saint Martins in London.
By taking advantage of natural living systems, many of the products in NPOL’s catalog have a smaller carbon footprint than their everyday counterparts. For example, the bacterial dye used to create Exploring Jacket uses much less water than conventional plant dyes, since no farmland is needed.
NPOL’s latest product is the Gathering Lamp, which is made of bioconcrete. Bioconcrete, grown at room temperature using limestone-producing bacteria, has 95 percent fewer emissions than traditional cement (which is typically made by burning limestone) and is three times stronger. Additionally, the Gathering Lamp is designed to be easily repaired, upgraded or recycled at the end of its useful life. “We are looking to keep materials in circulation. After all, we can’t invest billions of dollars in building new bio-based materials, only to have them end up in landfills,” explains Chieza.