Designing with Alganyl

Fiona Bell, Latifa Al Naimi, Ella McQuaid, Mirela Alistar
2022
Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction
DOI

We explore designing with Alganyl, a highly customizable and sustainable biomaterial made of food-grade ingredients. To make Alganyl, we optimized existing bioplastics for flexibility and strength, resulting in a biomaterial that acts and feels similar to vinyl fabric. Moreover, Alganyl is a zero-waste material that can be fully recycled or biodegraded in 60 days. We further explored designing with Alganyl by embedding color, texture, and sensing pigments. We showcase a wide range of applications made entirely of Alganyl including a sculpture, doll clothing, environment-sensing accessories, and a recycled concert bag. We conducted a user study with 12 participants that made Alganyl at home, fabricated their own applications, and then speculated on future applications for Alganyl. Overall, participants found Alganyl to be an accessible biomaterial that can be used for many applications. We hope designers and HCI researchers will embrace Alganyl as a sustainable biomaterial for making recyclable and biodegradable artifacts.