Introduction

BIODESIGNING

WORKING WITH NATURE

Wahl & Baxter (2008) describe the prevailing environmental situation as “the current crisis of our unsustainable civilisation”. As Myers (2018) discussed, the transition towards sustainability is about co-creating a human civilisation that flourishes within the ecological limits of the planetary life support system. Designers are now looking at biologists for their design processes. Biodesign is an emerging, radical approach towards design that uses research from life sciences and incorporates living materials into structures, objects and processes. With this collaboration between the designer and the biologist, new forms of designs and functions are arising. Biodesign is the “incorporation of living organisms or ecosystems as essential components, enhancing the function of the finished work” (Myers, 2018).

In the recent years, natural pigments have attracted the attention of the industry due to an increasing interest in the creation of new safe, easily degradable, ecologically friendly products with no adverse effects (Celedón & Díaz, 2021), such as non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and biodegradable in nature alternatives to what is currently taking place in the dyeing industry (Usman et al., 2017). Articles published about “natural pigment” doubled during the last ten years. Natural pigments contributing to the increased amount of research articles through these years include microorganisms like bacteria, yeasts, and fungi (Celedón & Díaz, 2021). The interest in dyeing with bacteria has also grasped the attention of the fashion giant H&M since they are investing in Colorifix, a biotech startup that is seeking sustainable dyeing using microorganisms via DNA sequencing (Chan, 2020). This indicates that profitable, commercial brands like H&M see potential in bacteria dye as an alternative way of dyeing textiles.

Bacteria is defined as “any of a group of microscopic single-celled organisms that live in enormous numbers in almost every environment on Earth, from deep-sea vents to deep below Earth’s surface to the digestive tracts of humans” (Rogers, 2020). Microorganisms are influenced

DYEING TEXTILES

WITH BACTERIA

by their environmental factors, resulting in a variety of pigments with unique characteristics mainly related to the connection between the microorganism and the ecosystem (Celedón & Díaz, 2021). Some of these bacteria produce pigments for multiple reasons, such as UV absorption or antibiotic properties against other living organisms (Bhawsar, 2011).

Although bacteria produce pigments due to factors in their environment, cultivating bacteria on textiles for their pigments is a sustainable and resource-saving dyeing method that does not require harmful chemicals. The bacterial strains multiply in a very small space and do not require large areas of land, the use of pesticides or high amounts of water resources (Arts Electronica, 2021). Microorganisms are abundant, unlike higher organisms, and they are an easily renewable resource that give rise to production with a potentially greater yield (Azman et al., 2018). Additionally, studies show that these natural pigments have a variety of beneficial properties such as anticancer activity, pro-vitamin A, and other characteristics such as high photostability and thermal stability. Dyeing with microorganisms contributes to the preservation of biodiversity while reducing the release of harmful chemicals into the environment as a result of the production of synthetic dyes (Malik et al., 2012). Colorifix claims that their textile bacterial dyeing processes use 90% less water and up to 40% less energy than conventional dyeing, eliminating the need for synthetic chemicals (Chan, 2020). This indicates that dyeing with bacteria is indeed a possible, sustainable alternative solution for dyeing textiles.