Biomaterial from Soil -celluose sheet
1) what is the material?
According to the distributor, this “leather-like material from bio-cellulose” is grown from the “Streptomyces bacteria found in soil.” The material is 100% biocellulose.
2) what can it be used for?
The suggested applications by the distributor is the following:
- Accessories
- Apparel
- Automotive: Interior
- Furniture
- Home Appliances
- Homewares
- Interior Walls
- Jewelry
- Lighting (Lamp)
- Packaging
- Partitions
- Tabletop
- Work Surfaces
These leather like sheets have “uneven, but smooth surface, and is translucent to opaque naturally colored in different shades of brown.” Just like a regular leather, these sheets are flexible (rubbery) and durable. The sheets are also customizable and ccan be “reproduced at different thicknesses to suit different garment purposes.” In terms of measurements, “the material can be customized to size within 75 cm by 140 cm (30 in by 55 in). ”
3) where can you source the material? can you get a sample?
The sheets are made “through a reaction between the parent and added substances, which can be observed after 1–7 days.” “A thin, opaque white sheet starts to form on the surface. After 36–40 days, the cultured bacteria is fully developed into a cellulose sheet with a thickness of approximately 0.7 cm to 1 cm (0.28 in to 0.39 in).” The distributor’s company name is Indin Studio, and their headquarters are based in Thailand. Currently no samples are available.
4) are there projects made out of the material? would you like to use it in your project?
I could not find any projects made with the material on Google, but I think this material would have an interesting application to wearables and furnitures. I’d also love to play around with making the sheets to form human-like skins. I think the irregularity in texture would add a unique, maybe a little grotesque touch to human skulptures. I’d also like to play around with the durability of the material: how well does it perform under rain? could it possibly replace real leather? It is it sewable? How hard is it to cut?
The description says that the material is rubbery, which makes me feel like the sheets would be hard to manipulate. I’m curious to see if it’ll be similar texture to pig skin?
5) include images/videos of the material
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