Material study with bacteria

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Today, we, designers are using a lot of chemical resources.

Even though there are a variety of nature resources that we can use, we are still changing the climate, producing pollution, and causing health problems while releasing our products to the world. There are more than 72 toxic chemicals are in the water and things must be changed. We should use natural resources rather than using chemical resources and contribute to our environment.

Bacteria, yeast, fungi and algae are considered as natural colorants for materials. While I was researching them, I thought bacteria is the most interesting alternative. They can produce wide arrange of pigments and easy to grow. When they start to grow onto materials, because bacteria are trying to protect themselves, they make natural anti-biotic, anti-cancer, and anti-mycotic properties. Moreover, after coloring the materials, there is no need to add any finishing process.

Before starting the coloring material process, I wanted to know more about bacteria, so I started to grow my classmates’ hands bacteria for 7days and observed them. They all had different shapes and colors. And, they were pretty.

First, I started with direct dyeing process. I grew materials in petri dishes for 3days, and killed bacteria by boiling them after getting pigments. In this process, I could realize that silk is easier to dye than cotton. Also, as I grow them longer, the color becomes more vivid.

Also, I did an experiment with woods. I got some different kinds of wood and transferred bacteria to them after growing pigments producing bacteria on the plates. At the finishing process, I used 2 methods which are baking and boiling.iling was better solution to get the colors. After baking, colors tend to fade out.

I did an experiment with different kinds of bacteria as well. These bacteria are derived from jellyfish and coral, so they have fluorescent colors. When I look at them under the UV lighting, they glow.