Abstract
The fast progress of bioengineering and technology is predisposing new, biology-based production methods, which enables us to create ecologically compatible materials with tuneable properties. Ongoing research on new alternative resources and emerging new materials speak for achieving sustainable development within circular economy. This paper offers practice-based design solutions through interdisciplinary collaboration for utilizing proteinbased materials capable of environment sensing-adapting and proposes new morphologies of spider and silkworm silk as promising future materials. The theoretical part of the study explores silk, spider silk in particular, and its fibrous structure. Following protocols developed for biomedical applications, the exploratory part of the project investigates silk assembly through morphological material experiments. The project culminated with material-driven design proposal for the applications of such new types of non-natural silk shapes. To visualize the concept of laboratory-created silk morphologies, silkworm Bombyx mori silk was utilized. Rather than the bio-fabrication of silk proteins, manipulation of isolated polymers was the subject of the study. Although sustainability itself was not the main research object of this project, it drove the research by trying to address the problem of fast consumption of resources in the design and fashion industry. The merger and execution of the project was facilitated by interdisciplinary collaboration between textile designers and natural scientists, implementing the know-how, craft and skills from respective disciplines.
Keywords
Biodesign; Bio-Based Materials; Silk; Interdisciplinarity; Sustainability
DOI
https://10.21606/eksig2019.108
Citation
Vinter, M.,and Koort, K.(2019) Interdisciplinary Collaboration as a Framework for Creating Future Materials: Hacking Silk Case Study, in Nithikul Nimkulrat, Kristi Kuusk, Julia Valle Noronha, Camilla Groth and Oscar Tomico (eds.), Knowing Together – experiential knowledge and collaboration, 23–24 September 2019, Tallinn, Estonia. https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2019.108
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Interdisciplinary Collaboration as a Framework for Creating Future Materials: Hacking Silk Case Study
The fast progress of bioengineering and technology is predisposing new, biology-based production methods, which enables us to create ecologically compatible materials with tuneable properties. Ongoing research on new alternative resources and emerging new materials speak for achieving sustainable development within circular economy. This paper offers practice-based design solutions through interdisciplinary collaboration for utilizing proteinbased materials capable of environment sensing-adapting and proposes new morphologies of spider and silkworm silk as promising future materials. The theoretical part of the study explores silk, spider silk in particular, and its fibrous structure. Following protocols developed for biomedical applications, the exploratory part of the project investigates silk assembly through morphological material experiments. The project culminated with material-driven design proposal for the applications of such new types of non-natural silk shapes. To visualize the concept of laboratory-created silk morphologies, silkworm Bombyx mori silk was utilized. Rather than the bio-fabrication of silk proteins, manipulation of isolated polymers was the subject of the study. Although sustainability itself was not the main research object of this project, it drove the research by trying to address the problem of fast consumption of resources in the design and fashion industry. The merger and execution of the project was facilitated by interdisciplinary collaboration between textile designers and natural scientists, implementing the know-how, craft and skills from respective disciplines.