biopolymers out of everything?

I try to stay attuned to what's going on with biopolymers and a few things have popped out recently in regards to new functional options. In the past week I got some information about biopolymers made out of chicken feathers (though I thought I might have seen this one before). And a new funding for 'spider silk' biopolymer implementation. If only I could get my designer hands on some of those materials - AMAZING - absolutely AMAZING!

All of the news including Pepsi's 100% biopolymer bottle have given me great hope for the industry - I'm certainly hoping its not a passing trend, but creates sustainable options for the future of materials.

The photo above is some of my preliminary bioplastic research back in 2007 - I can't believe its been that long!

Green Products Innovation Institute

I wish the Green Products Innovation Institute was a real place where I could go and study... but I guess it is in its own way... Basically, its seemingly the next step in Cradle-to-Cradle in the creation of a more holistic design economy. It is seemingly being implemented in California in order to create a 'sustainable economy' (sorry for the quotation marks, but I had to - I believe everything to do with sustainability needs to come with quotation marks). Pretty awesome, and I can't wait until the toxicity database is ready to be perused....

Awesome...

A whole manifesto about awesomeness... what can I say other than awesome (you do know its one of my favourite words, right?)

And life just became more interesting

So, everyone who knows me knows how much I love the city of Montreal, in fact I'm loving it right at the moment, sitting in an open air cafe, watching all the people meander down the street, which is closed to cars for the weekend, and is a giant street festival/sidewalk sale. Oh how lovely.

While at the video store a couple of weeks ago, I saw a poster for the work of Brandon Ballangée (pictured above), and started to look into where this exhibition may be. It happens to be right here in Montreal, at the SAT ( the Society for Arts and Technology, or la Société des arts et technologiques). I must look into this institution further, as I see they are having an evening event next weekend called Art & Design Montreal - if only I had known earlier, I would have submitted some stuff for exhibition, but I will certainly be attending! Sounds like a really interesting group of people, and I look forward to seeing what's going on around here!

Textiles CAN save the world

Often when talking about sustainability and textiles, I often get the feeling that others believe the impact of textiles isn't big enough in order to require more thought past organic/fairtrade/reused/recycled or shared. Of course I beg to differ, and often cite the many sins of textile industries, and the impact of production, transport, use and disposal, and that the textile industry is not just big - but GIANT, and has the power and capabilities of contributing solutions for not just fashion, but many other industries, including architecture, agriculture, transportation, and many more I can't recall at the moment. I came across an article today in Azure of something I've heard of before, but had forgotten about, and I'm glad to have found it again. It is the solar harvesting textiles created by Sheila Kenndey and Frano Violich. They have been working on the creation of viable energy harvesting solutions using window blinds, and other surfaces, and worked on Portable Light Project, and are now working on a larger scale, looking at powering entire structures using their technology. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to get her hands on a bit to play with... This is such a lovely and feasible and implementable technology - if only we could get more ideas and technology!

rAndom International

I was looking for some stuff on processing's website, and came across this piece by rAndom international. It is based on a rapid method of creating printed signs - and is called Pixel Roller. From what I gather it is a programmable paint roller that creates a raised 'pixel' on the surface if the image requires paint... very intriguing!

I wish...

I wish I could have gone to this exhibit! It looks like it was AMAZING. Put on by the Experimental Art Foundation it looked at the intersection of biotechnology and art is always fascinating to me. Its interesting to think of the different sides of biotechnology - those that are deemed to save the planet versus those which we are all are going to die a horrible death... Interesting nonetheless.

Notes from a nice Day

I went to MADE's event on Textiles and Clothing Sustainability last week (Thursday). It was a really great event with speakers from many diverse fields - it was great to see such a mix! I've scanned in my notes and if you would like to read them in their utter flawed manner (don't use any of the figures I'm sure some of them are wrong). I also met Mark Liu - one of last year's graduates of Textile Futures. He makes some very beautiful pieces all cut with zero fabric waste in the cutting process. I'll write another post about his work as soon as I find all the of the pertinent links. Back to the original reason I'm writing... notes... here they are...

Catching up on my Treehugger Reading

I've been out of the loop for a bit (focusing on my work I guess).  And I just saw a really cool article on Thermoelectric Textiles made by GMZ Energy... The original treehugger post is here.  I wonder if they'll send me a sample???

Ponoko is cool...

I'm not sure why I didn't post this when I first found it... but its totally cool! Basically Ponoko lets you design an object and choose a material, and send off your eps for it to be made somewhere near you, and then all you have to do is wait. How fantastic is that!

Nano Textiles

Right... Nano and textiles... I can handle it, I'm a smartish cookie... This is really cool, its Cornell's Textiles Nanotechnology Labratory, lets just hope I can understand it all. I think I might need a science degree too...

Neighbourhood Satellites

Just found out from Maurin today about this great artist, Myriel Milicevic. She does some really interesting work in Interactive Design in regards to sustainability, but always in a playful manner. I'll have to look more into her work, but I wanted to make a note of her site here before I forgot, as I'm apt to do.

Diatoms!

I've been doing some reading, and unfortunately I can't find the original article I read, but diatoms seem like one of those things that could really revolutionize the way we dye things. Researchers at Oxford have found a way to use these unicellular algae to colour everything from paint to fabric. Its the crystal like structure of their shells, which give them their colour, and they are quite small - 1/3 the width of a human hair. you can find out more information here, and here. Thank you Treehugger and Wired for all of the information

Ingeo

This interesting fiber is made from corn. Check out their website for how it is made. I wonder if it is really as great as it actually sounds? I guess I have some questions to ask them. http://www.ingeofibers.com/ingeo/home.asp