Pursuits
Suzanne Lee's BioCouture: Fashion Grown From Bacteria
Lee grows beautiful, wearable dresses and accessories—using only cultured bacteria
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This is really in its infancy, no?
I’m still very much focusing on apparel and luxury products—jewelry, things that use small amounts of material. The lab materials are quite expensive and are not being produced in great volume. But the resources you need are just a few microbes, which will multiply and feed on waste. Your costs are literally nothing once it’s set up.
So how do you make, say, a shirt?
We have wet space where we store growing bacteria sheets. Once they’re ready, I cut and stitch them together into my designs. The result is not dissimilar to leather. It’s pliable, and body heat softens it when you wear it.