In January 2019 I had the amazing opportunity to be invited for an artistic residency and workshop at DLab USFQ in Ecuador by my very good friend and amazing researcher Cristina Muñoz to work together on Biofabricated textiles based on starch and natural colorants.

Our collaboration began in 2017, through a collaboration fund from the Universidad de San Francisco, on biomaterials applied to textile fabrication that allowed us to work in distance as co-researchers together with a team of chemical engineers and designers from Ecuador. I was in charge of the methodological supervision in prototyping bio-fabrics and assessing the development of the biomaterials, the fabrication techniques and the product design. As the conclusion of the project, I was invited for a three week artistic residency together with a series of workshops and a public lecture at USFQ.

During the residency we explored  developed further the recipes of starch based bioplastics, explored natural colorants, codesigned a series of garments and established the fabrication protocols for producing them. We experimented with cochineal, since Ecuador has large production of this natural red colorant, whose primary constituent is carminic acid, that is made of the dried and pulverized bodies of female cochineal insects and is used to color food and cosmetics. (freedictionary)

The pattern of this soluble swimsuit aims to bring awareness around the “plastic floating islands” that travel in the open sea.

The pattern was made by using a database by the Sea Education Association showing the urgency

Floating plastic debris sampling in the North Atlantic, by the Sea Education Association.

You can see this data in this interactive map and read the article here

The different laser cut layers for the swimsuit>

Starch based Bioplastic with Cochineal (top + skirt)

You can find the downloadable patterns at OS circular fashion

Research references

• http://www.worldfuturefund.org/Reports/oceansdestruction.htm
• https://abcnews.go.com/International/great-pacific-garbage-patch-massive-floating-island-plastic/story?id=53962147
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qcIllBI9iE
• https://www.adventurescientists.org/microplastics.html
• https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/conservation/global-population-implored-to-beat-plastic-pollution-on-world-environment-day/news-story/3666e012c6990a2ef3bfdab2e842ac91
• https://www.adventurescientists.org/microplastics.html
• http://marine.copernicus.eu/eyewitnessing-plastic-pollution-in-oceans/
• https://www.sea.edu/sea_research/ocean_plastics_marine_pollution
• http://www.oceanwatch.org.au/latest-news/blog/5-awesome-programs-tackling-ocean-plastics/
• https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/conservation/global-population-implored-to-beat-plastic-pollution-on-world-environment-day/news-story/3666e012c6990a2ef3bfdab2e842ac91
• http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-dump/
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X17304435
• http://plasticadrift.org/
• http://oceanmotion.org/html/impact/garbagepatch.htm
• http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044040
• http://dumpark.com/seas-of-plastic-infographic/
• http://www.bluebird-electric.net/oceanography/Plastic_Ocean_Pollution_Gyres_Garbage_Patches.htm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yG77rRXZDM
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X17304435#f0015
• http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/08/19/the-mystery-of-the-missing-plastic-in-the-atlantic-garbage-patch/#.XDVVk89KjdQ

Honoring the Earth Day on the 22nd of April 2020 with BIO RIOT! , worn by Jessica Guy  at the strike against climate this past September in Barcelona!

Made with the same recipe of the Coffee Leather Bag, one can find the file to download the pattern here

FabTextiles and Materials Lab participated in the Makerfaire BCN 2019 at Nau Bostic.

The projects we presented were:

• Textile Dyeing with Bacteria, a series of scarves and postcards from our research in the biolab
• The atlas of Biomaterials, a materials library with various samples and recipes we have been developing since 2016
• The algae warrior, final fabricademy project of Catherine Euale
• 3D printed hats and digitally fabricated contemporary millinery from Betiana´s Pavon final project
• A collection of Fabricademy final projects worldwide
• A parametric leather molded bag made by Nicolas Olmos

Check out the exhibition here:

Your waste is my treasure!

Working with organic waste can bring circular solutions  for the implementation of closed loops of organic feedstocks.  At Fab Textiles we have been working with food waste since October 2018 and many researchers through their internship developed and evolved recipes for making food waste biocomposites.  There are already some small companies that produce bioleathers with waste, one of them from Mexico called ECOPLASO that I had the possibility to get to know in one of my conferences at ¨Demand Solutions¨ in Miami 2018.

RECIPE / COFFEE BIOLEATHER

2G sodium alginate
2G dried coffee grains of any organic waste in powder
2G olive oil
5G glycerin
33G water 
(everything is in grams using a precision scale)

MIX for calcification
7G of calcium chloride in 100ml of water

Various organic waste bio-leather samples

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:

1- Weight all the ingredients with a precision scale.
2- Mix the powder together with the glycerin and the olive oil.
3- Add the water and use a mechanical blender to obtain an homogeneous solution.
4- Cast in a silk screen print frame ( you can create your own using any textile and wood)
5- Mix the Calcium chloride with water in a sprayer bottle.
6- Spray the biomaterial on top and bottom with the calcium chloride solution.
7- Let the calcium chloride act for 5´ and rinse with clean water.
8- Let the composite sample dry in a dry and warm place for one week. Depending on the thickness and the size of the sample it may take longer. It will also vary due to the local temperature and humidity.
9- When the product is dry you can separate it from the frame.

Note: As the sample dries, it can become curved, so place it between two level surfaces and some weight on top so at the end we can obtain a really flat sheet

The laser cut pattern can be found and downloaded HERE

In 1831, Mr. Touery, a professor at the French Academy of Medicine, drank strychnine, a deadly poison, in front of all his colleagues. He survived. How ? He had combined the lethal dose with activated charcoal. “That’s how powerful activated charcoal is as an emergency decontaminant in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which includes the stomach and intestines. Activated charcoal is considered to be the most effective single agent available. It is used after a person swallows or absorbs almost any toxic drug or chemical.”*

Diagram displaying the major health effects of air pollution, CEDIM Lab by Restology project, 2017

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Last year Fab Textiles worked on a flexible bio filter design to reduce the pollution of Monterrey, the most polluted city in Mexico. This research was undertaken for an architecture project named Restology, a multidisciplinary project between architects, interior designers, product designers, fashion designers, material designers, graphic designers, electronic engineers and marketing strategists. During one month, Maria Luisa Becerril and I collaborated at Fab Textiles, Fab Lab Barcelona on the development of a bio-composite made of bioplastic mix with activated charcoal.

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Grains of activated charcoal, Fab Textiles, Fab Lab Barcelona, 2017

Liquid mixture of bioplastic and activated charcoal, CEDIM Lab by Restology project, 2017

Activated charcoal is one material that seems especially applicable to Fab Lab makers, because of its ecologically sound and purifying properties. It is essentially a form of incredibly microporous carbon, processed from natural carbon-rich materials by applying various gases or chemicals to ‘burn’ in tiny holes and thus exponentially increasing its surface area. The result ? A material that can efficiently filter out all manner of impurities and toxins. A super-sponge, if you will. Bioplastics present themselves as an excellent and similarly sustainable substrate for activated charcoal with a wide range of uses.

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Bio-composite module tests, CEDIM Lab by Restology project, 2017

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During the material research, Maria Luisa and I tried out 10 different recipes to discover the correct ratio of ingredients that provided the most appropriate amount of flexibility for using activated charcoal as a filter. For this research, we decided to use gelatin as our biopolymer and glycerol as our plasticizer. By experimenting with the quantities of glycerol relative to activated charcoal, one can influence the degree of flexibility of the mixture. Maria Luisa told me that in the previous experiments  with her team, the issue was that the samples were cracking  after the drying process. Probably because the bioplastic mixture was containing too much activated charcoal according to the glycerol ratio.

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Bio-composite recipe experimentations, Fab Textiles, Fab Lab Barcelona, 2017

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At the end of the experiments, we succeeded to have good results, with samples with different flexibility (hard like a rock to flexible like rubber) and textures (Rough to Smooth and Matte to Shiny). I noticed that some of the samples were conductive, an interesting fact that we could use for future e-textiles and wearables.

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Bio-composite recipe experimentations, Fab Textiles, Fab Lab Barcelona, 2017

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Some samples made for the Restology project were sent to the laboratory to be tested. The scan of electrons viewed in the microscope shows that the best recipe for creating a bio filter is one with the greatest amount of activated charcoal and almost as much glycerol as gelatin for better flexibility. The amount of ingredients use for this recipe is 20% glycerol , 28% gelatin, 57% activated charcoal and 14% water. Compared to the others, this recipe presented the highest average pore-size of 50μm, “creating a set of thin porous walls one behind another with inside cavities allowing the filtration of air pollutants.”**

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Microscope scan of the bio-composite electrons, CEDIM Lab by Restology project, 2017

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The laboratory analysis proved that one of the activated charcoal and bioplastic mixture was porous enough to fix pollutant particles. To validate the filtering potential of this bio-composite, the Restology researchers developed a machine measuring microparticles and gases such as NH3, Nox, Alcohol, Benzen, Smoke, CO2… This two-chambered device contains an Arduino system connected to two sensors : one reading dust density (GP2Y1010AU0F sensor) and one calculating air quality (MQ135 sensor). The two chambers are separated by the bio-composite filter, the polluted air is introduced in the first chamber, measured, and then remeasured in the second chamber after passing through the bio filter.

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Data compilation machine : measuring air particles and gas, CEDIM Lab by Restology project, 2017

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3 Days try out results, data compilation machine : measuring air particles and gas, CEDIM Lab by Restology project, 2017

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OUTDOOR & INDOOR RESTOLOGY MODULE

Outdoor filter module : concrete, bioplastic and activated charcoal, CEDIM Lab by Restology project, 2017

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Indoor filter module : bioplastic and activated charcoal, CEDIM Lab by Restology project, 2017

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* E-Medecine Health Article, Medical Author: John P.Cunha, DO, FACOEP and Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor / Medically reviewed by John A. Daller, MD; American Board of Surgery with subspecialty certification in surgical critical car.

** Restology, absorption of suspended particles through bioplastic and activated charcoal, multidisciplinary thesis, Centro de Estudios Superiores de Diseno de Monterrey S.C., 7 December 2017.

Restology project by Monterrey Center for Higher Learning of Design (CEDIM University), Monterrey Mexico, Architecture Department Direction :

– Project Leader : Yessica Mendez Sierra

– Students : Ada Gloria Gonzalez Mireles, Ana Graciela Gonzalez Sanchez, Ana Maria Vargas Lasserre, Andrea Lizette Najera Rodriguez, Bárbara Garza Saldaña, Carla Ruizvelasco Garza, Cristina Adriana Briones Nuñez, Dana Mayeli Rangel Torres, Estefanía Flores Jiménez, Juana Valeria Gonzalez Ortiz, Kathia Quintanilla Garcia, Maria De Lourdes Hernández Lima, Maria Luisa Becerril Garcia, Mayra Valeria Moreira Balderas, Melissa Chapa Gil, Oscar Javier Alvarado Contreras, Priscila Luna Ramos, Roberto Luis Valenzuela Cortazar, Sara Eugenia Gonzalez Mascareñas, Veronica Saldaña Garza

-> About Restology project : https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/reduce-air-pollution

Article written by Clara Davis