design researchers in residence
Algae, fungi, yeast, natural fibres... grown materials are substances cultivated with living organisms, rather than being extracted from the earth. They are natural, renewable, and biodegradable, whether grown in a lab or on land.
The UK's bioeconomy is a government growth priority: the 2025 Modern Industrial Strategy names engineering biology as one of six frontier industries, with an ambition for global leadership by 2030.
Globally, the market for mycelium-based materials alone is projected to grow from around $3.6 billion today to over $5 billion by 2030, as fashion, construction and packaging industries look for alternatives to plastic, leather and other petrochemical- and animal-derived materials. Yet the UK's own living landscapes for grown materials are themselves under threat. Seagrass meadows on the west coast of Wales have depleted by 92% over the last century, while only around 30,000 hectares remain of Scotland’s temperate rainforests. The UK's grown ecosystems are as fragile as they are abundant.
Design Researchers in Residence is open to designers and researchers from disciplines including but not limited to: biodesign, fashion and textiles, industrial design, architecture, systems and policy research, material innovation, craft or graphic design.
We are interested in research that spans the handmade and tactile to the biofabricated and engineered, embedded in natural intelligence. This includes Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), biodesign and biofabrication practices that work with living systems.