Scoby Breastplate
Collaborators:
Fiona Bell
Derrek Chow
Hyelin Choi
Mirela Alistar
Years:
2021-2022
Description:
The Scoby Breastplate is a sustainable, interactive wearable that was slowly grown and fabricated from kombucha scoby (a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). When worn, lights embedded within the scoby produce different light responses in reaction to the wearer being hugged, tapped, or brushed. This work challenges the 'fail-fast' and ‘rapid prototyping’ trends that dominate creative technology research, and instead explores what it means to design at the pace of another living organism.
Awards:
Best Pictorial at ACM TEI 2023
Publications:
Integrating Biomaterials and Interactive Technologies: Practice-based Perspectives on the Growth of Biodesign within Human-Computer Interaction
SCOBY Breastplate: Slowly Growing a Microbial Interface
Designing Interactions with Kombucha SCOBY
Exhibitions:
Currents New Media Art + Technology Festival 20245