Our everyday care and cleaning practices create a lot of waste, often relying on products we use once and then throw away. To make a real difference, we need to rethink what we consider “clean enough” and explore materials that work with nature rather than against it. Fundamental to this shift is our relationship with microbes—the tiny organisms in, on and around our bodies. Can we extend our symbiotic relationship with these to develop sustainable and waste-free cleaning practices?
This project is an unusual collaboration that brings together ideas from different fields, like biology, materials science, and design, to create novel materials and everyday practices that show potential for such a symbiotic relationship.
In the first stage, we explore the concept of “living foam,” from a broad range of perspectives including technical viability, human experience and the role of data in representing the interactions on different scales and over time. The project focuses on effective permeations of our disciplinary boundaries by enabling us to work together intensively through workshops and externalize our thoughts and assumptions centered around the Living Foam idea in tangible formats.
Team members
Bahar Barati (TU/e)
Angelos Chatzimparmpas (UU)
Jasper Landman (WUR)
Lu Zhang (WUR)