These Beautiful Silk Scarves Were Created With Bacteria

This article was originally published on December 15, 2014 but we think it still rocks!

The problem of pollution in the textile industry may have met its match with bacteria. Experimental bio-design firm Studio Natsai Audrey has created The Fold, a colorful line of silk scarves individually dyed by bacterial colonies. Part of an ongoing series of investigations called Faber Futures, the line earns its name from founder Natsai Audrey Chieza's origami-like process of folding each scarf until it fits inside of a petri dish.

Chieza suggests that the bacteria could offer a sustainable solution to some of the textile industry's issues, while also creating a unique aesthetic. "I was very interested in how we could take this bacteria and give it a new purpose by manipulating the growth medium, the type of medium, the incubation temperatures, as well as the growing period, and we were able to effectively shift the colors that were being produced," she says. Working in collaboration with Professor John Ward of The Ward Lab at University College London, Chieza's experiments employ the non-pathogenic bacteria Streptomyces which produces natural pigment.

The patterns left behind evoke the microbial colonies one might remember from middle school science class, serving "as a record of what it was to live, then die, in seven days," according to The Fold's project description. As the scarves are relatively simple to confine within a petri dish, Chieza's next challenge involves an entire collection of garments, each of which documents the life cycle of her bacterial colonies.

Take a look at more of Chieza's bio-design experiments on the Faber Futures section of her website here.

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