Natsai Audrey Chieza: Fashion has a pollution problem -- can biology fix it?
Natsai Audrey Chieza: La industria textil es contaminante ¿Es la biología la solución?
Natsai Audrey Chieza is a trans-disciplinary design researcher whose fascinating work crosses boundaries between technology, biology, design and cultural studies. Full bio
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of a Streptomyces coelicolor.
del Streptomyces coelicolor.
that's found in the soil
que se encuentra en la tierra
with other organisms,
junto a otros organismos,
organic chemical compounds.
compuestos químicos orgánicos.
called actinorhodin,
llamado actinorodina,
from blue to pink and purple,
entre azul, rosa y morado,
of its environment.
sparked my curiosity
estas moléculas pigmentadas
closely with coelicolor.
my practice as a materials designer.
mi trabajo como diseñadora textil.
was going to completely revolutionize
revolucionaría totalmente
y construimos el medio ambiente,
como el coelicolor
grow our material future.
el futuro material.
en nuestra realidad actual?
around fossil fuels,
en torno a los combustibles fósiles,
material system we have ever known.
más valioso que conocemos.
and we've crafted a dependency on it
y hemos creado una dependencia
our ways of making and our economies.
nuestra cultura,
y nuestra economía.
are reshaping the earth
en los combustibles fósiles
of dramatically changing the climate,
el clima de manera drástica,
de conflicto entre los seres humanos.
has become deadly.
se ha transformado en algo mortal.
of not being affected
del no vernos afectados
is a profound lack of imagination
es una profunda falta de imaginación
of this planet's boundaries.
de nuestro planeta.
give way to renewable energy.
darán paso a la energía renovable.
new material systems
nuevos sistemas de materiales
will be biological,
deberán ser biológicos,
is how we design and build them.
y cómo los construimos.
the destructive legacies of the oil age.
de la era del petróleo.
biological system,
altamente sofisticado
more quickly and precisely
de un modo más rápido y preciso
que se haya creado.
a lo largo de 3.8 mil millones de años
of synthetic biology,
de la biología sintética,
this functionality of living systems,
de los sistemas vivos—,
the assembly of DNA.
un prototipo de ensamblaje de ADN.
the kind of biological precision
una precisión biológica
to design a bacteria
renewable energy from algae.
energía renovable de las algas.
this inherent brilliance of nature --
inherente genialidad de la naturaleza
process of fermentation.
de la fermentación.
when harnessed by humans,
es aprovechada por los humanos
de tecnología avanzada
toolkit for our survival.
by bacterial fungi.
por acción de los hongos bacterianos.
es lo nos sirve.
to grapes to make wine.
al incorporar levadura a las uvas.
are part of a complex network --
son parte de una compleja red.
that redistributes energy.
que redistribuye la energía.
to multispecies interactions
a interacciones entre múltiples especies
microbial interactions
the fermentation of grains,
have domesticated microorganisms
han domesticado a los microorganismos
en comestible.
that as early as 350 AD,
de que ya en el año 350 d. C.
foodstuffs that contained antibiotics.
los alimentos que contenían antibióticos.
de algunos nubios de Sudán
of some Sudanese Nubian
significant deposits of tetracycline.
de tetraciclina,
in modern medicine today.
en la medicina moderna.
the antimicrobial properties of mold.
las propiedades antimicrobianas del moho.
fermentation of penicillin
de la penicilina
infectious diseases.
sobrevivir a enfermedades infecciosas.
play an important role
desempeñar un importante rol
una nueva forma de supervivencia
change our industries?
las industrias de manera radical?
to develop new material systems
me ha permitido desarrollar
para la industria textil.
that the textile industry
de que la industria textil
caused by textile processing
causado por el procesamiento textil
and the dyeing stage.
requires huge amounts of water.
enormes cantidades de agua.
transformed the textile industry,
transformó la industria textil
utilizados para procesarlos
to process them are petroleum based.
appetite for fast fashion,
insaciable por la moda efímera,
is ending up in landfill every year
de desechos textiles cada año,
notoriously difficult to recycle.
sumamente difícil reciclarlos.
de 3800 millones de años
we've ever engineered.
que hayamos desarrollado.
through a seemingly simple question --
de una pregunta aparentemente simple
para teñir productos textiles?
directly onto silk.
directamente en la seda.
produces pigment around its own territory.
pigmento en su territorio circundante.
to saturate the entire cloth.
como para saturar toda la tela.
about dyeing textiles in this way --
de esta técnica de tintura
directly onto the silk --
directamente sobre la seda --
on just 200 milliliters of water.
200 ml de agua.
generates very little runoff
genera muy poco desperdicio de agua
without the use of any chemicals.
sin el uso de químicos.
with designing with a living system is:
de un sistema vivo es:
that has a life force of its own?
un medio que tiene vida propia?
the baseline for cultivating Streptomyces
la línea de base
produces enough pigment,
de pigmento de manera regular,
mojar, rociar, sumergir.
the aesthetics of coelicolor's activity.
de la actividad del coelicolor.
to generate an organic pattern ...
these artisanal methods of making
estos métodos artesanales
to use them in industry.
dos aspectos en paralelo:
the tools and the processes
y los procesos
el procedimiento
what happens on a petri dish
the architecture of our environments.
nuestro medio ambiente.
be a part of his toolkit.
de sus instrumentos de trabajo.
más aceptable que hemos logrado
that contains yeasts
de microorganismos
specific commodity chemicals and compounds
químicos y compuestos específicos,
of automated hardware and software
de hardware y software automatizados
a un equipo de diseñadores
the growth conditions of the microbe.
de los microbios.
to model the growth characteristics
de crecimiento
ferment at 50,000 liters.
startup in Boston.
biotecnológico en Boston.
how their platform for scaling biology
de ajuste a escala de la biología
of designing with bacteria for textiles.
de diseño textil con bacterias.
Streptomyces coelicolor
Streptomyces coelicolor
for synthetic biology.
de instrumentos
specifically to automate synthetic biology
para automatizar la biología sintética,
to become tools to print and dye textiles.
y teñir productos textiles.
la fabricación digital,
to work with Streptomyces coelicolor
en realidad no existen.
a bespoke print on a whole garment.
personalizado sobre una prenda completa.
capacity in this field,
especializándose en el sector,
por cuero fabricado a partir de hongos
with mushroom leather,
de excelente rendimiento,
and into product and architecture.
fuera de la industria textil,
y en el sector de arquitectura.
to produce spider-silk protein
una proteína de la seda de araña
into a highly programmable yarn.
altamente programable.
are having to build and design
a construir, diseñar y desarrollar
to work with biology.
con la biología.
in some extreme biomimicry.
a un caso de imitación biológica extrema.
this yeast creates into a yarn,
que esta levadura transforma en hebras,
para fabricas hebras
fisiológicas
ordinarily spin their own silk.
tejen su propia seda.
cuán imaginativas e inspiradoras
exist in nature
de la naturaleza
around new bio-based industries.
para desarrollar capacidades
industrias biológicas.
these capabilities.
y ajustar a escala esas capacidades.
a la crisis ecológica,
crisis in front of us,
these new material systems
estos nuevos sistemas de materiales
the damaging legacies of the oil age.
nefastos de la era del petróleo.
to ensure a sustainable development
esos sistemas
justo e igualitario en todo el mundo.
across the world.
cómo quisiéramos
the regulatory and ethical frameworks
de estas tecnologías
con nuestra sociedad.
every part of our lived experience.
todos los aspectos de nuestra vida.
usada para crear.
that we must be bold enough to shape.
de nuestro coraje para poder construirse.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Natsai Audrey Chieza - DesignerNatsai Audrey Chieza is a trans-disciplinary design researcher whose fascinating work crosses boundaries between technology, biology, design and cultural studies.
Why you should listen
Natsai Audrey Chieza is Founder and Creative Director of Faber Futures, a creative R&D studio that conceptualizes, prototypes and evaluates the next generation of materials that are emerging through the convergence of biology, technology and design. The studio advocates a shift in thinking away from resource extraction to material systems that are grown within the limits of our planetary boundaries. Working with partners in academia and industry, she is at the forefront of defining the future of design in the context of the Anthropocene at the advent of enabling technologies like synthetic biology.
Chieza holds an MA (Hons) in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh and an MA in Material Futures from Central Saint Martins. She began her career in design research at Textile Futures Research Centre (UK), while also pursuing her own research interests in biofabrication at the Ward Lab, University College London (UK). During this time she co-curated exhibitions and public programmes including Big Data, Designing with the Materials of Life 2015 (UK), Alive En Vie, Fondation EDF, 2014 (FR) and Postextiles, London Design Festival 2011 (UK).
Chieza has been a Designer in Residence at Ginkgo Bioworks (US), IDEO (UK), Machines Room (UK), Swedish Arts Grants Committee (SE), and the Ward Lab, University College London (UK). Her work has been widely exhibited at world-renowned galleries and museums, including the Victoria & Albert Museum (UK), Science Gallery Dublin (IR), Bauhaus Dessau (DE), Audax Textile Museum (NL) and at industry institutions like Microsoft Research (US/UK) and Fondation EDF (FR).
She has taught on degree programmes that are transitioning to biomaterials and sustainable design at Central Saint Martins, The Bartlett and Istituto Marangoni. Chieza's own body of work on biopigmented textiles has been featured in a number of leading publications, including WIRED, Next Nature, IDEO, Huffington Post, Viewpoint, Frame, Domus, LSN Global, Protein and FORM.
Natsai Audrey Chieza | Speaker | TED.com