Suzanne Lee: Grow your own clothes
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- www.ted.com Designer Suzanne Lee shares her experiments in growing a kombucha-based material that can be used like fabric or vegetable leather to make clothing. The process is fascinating, the results are beautiful (though there's still one minor drawback ...) and the potential is simply stunning.
Kombucha is amazing. I saw another video, where the dried scoby was painted with a mix of mineral oil and wax, and that made it pretty water proof. Other things you can do with extra scobies from making kombucha - you can eat them, make jerky, mash them up and add to garden soil for beneficial bacteria. I just tried that out last summer on a pot of zinnias, and they absolutely exploded with blooms.
Thought emporium
Vinager does prettymuch the Same thing
That jacket or whatever that she is wearing looks like the skin suit from silence of the lambs.
I have grown some kombucha just to get the Komcuha Vinegar and the "skin". Yes it looks astonishingly like human skin because of it transparency and perhaps odd colour, however the smell of "pee" or "fermentation" just distinguishes it right away. However its an intriguing material and quite sturdy for its lightweight and really thin slices. One can be reminded of old swamp reed paper or early age leather
Bogdan Pirsan yes it does
:0
"imagine growing something consumable", I can't even begin to imagine
benjamunji1 some people actually fry it & eat it
benjamunji1 it’s edible they fry is in oil.
jesus have you heard of those "freshwater lakes" too?
Wow! Sounds exactly like that think we do! Unimaginable.
She is speaking about clothes alright?
Shopping bags.
TravistheHuman YESSSS!! this is the answer
but it really need to be durable... as in it needs to handle a lot of weight
@@LNasterio watch 1 minutes and 30 seconds into this video, it's pretty durable.
ua-cam.com/video/iooVlns4Noo/v-deo.html
That would be really expensive
@@YasuTaniina it's not... research this more. I really wanted to use this but it is a bad material
Hemp absorbs more CO2 than trees and can be used in making plastics, textiles, improved concrete and a fiberglass material. Much better!
kombucha is more leathery then hemp, as hemp is used for fabrics since its the simplest.
Why not both
It was very interesting talk. I think the method developed by Suzanne Lee has great potential .This’s a great way to produce ‘leather’ clothes without cruelty and killing animals. Additionally these clothes don’t contain chemicals that may be dangerous to our health. In my opinion it’s extremely important to take care of the environment and this method of production seems to be harmless. I just can't believe that kombucha has so many uses! Maybe it doesn’t look good but you can drink it and It is very healthy for our body because kombucha is rich in vitamins and minerals.
@The Quantum Institute Holistic Medicine Hundreds of Billions of Microbial deaths just to make a piece no larger than a sheet of paper. At least the cow was going to die anyway to make the burger I ate for lunch. There's no reason to throw away its skin, when someone could have at least made something useful out of it.
To me, it seems more than probable that there's at least one bug somewhere on earth, or beyond, that can do this. So I thank Suzanne for giving her all, and only hope that many more people try!
However, while a breakthrough could happen at any second, it pays to keep in mind that there's lots of impressive, substandard, environmentally friendly products under development, by scientists who seek that elusive one, which ticks all the boxes.
I feel like this is the start of a loooonng & frrrrustrating, but worthy journey, which will be, at least to some degree, compromised by such things as chemicals/genetic engineering!
At first I thought it was gross, but then I realized that skinning animals as one of the methods to acquire materials for clothing is ACTUALLY disgusting. I mean, the clothing that is made from this revolutionary process only LOOKS like skin - but as she showed, it can always be dyed. That indigo garment looks just like a jean jacket! I'd wear that.
I'd say hemp is far better. It's super easy to grow and harvest. Also hemp wood, used to make houses, is fire resistant.
Yes indeed, hemp is also using carbon where as this process releases carbon.
Completely deluded idea tbf. You can spin so many different natural resources and by products of them into fabric..
This idea is lazy af and completely stupid.
Wool also doesn’t lose temperature when it’s wet.. her stuff can’t even get wet..
It’s so stupid.
Hemp is great but there isn't one answer, we need lots of solutions for different applications, experimenting is just part of the beginning.
what the heck is hemp wood, is that a joke?
@@creativeamerican8811 well she said it can be great addition to growing demands of textile industry
may be it could be used as an alternative to decorative items during weddings where a lot of single use products r used
...you can't wash it.
You can't wash regular leather either?
just ad coconout oil, bee wax and mineral oil and is waterproof
grow our own money?
Masteratadobeother money growing on trees
Yeah it's called weed lol
It's called to work and to have a job.
CQN APDN I'm sure you know a lot about that lol
How about get rid of money? Earth gives it to us for free, and she is actually the owner in a sense. Earth never gave us permission to sell her parts. It’s just like when someone wakes up with no kidney, because someone took it, and sold it. Nobody gave them permission, but it was taken and sold anyhow. No difference.
Some sort of glue, like Elmer's, mixed in with her kombucha-based material might work, or rubber tree rubber. You know I find milkweed sap fascinating, there has to be a more varied use for it, besides wart remover.
it would leave rather interesting pit stains
lol
What about the odor? Does it have a smell?
Does it absorb much sweat? I would think this is a bigger drawback than how it behaves in the rain since I can choose to stand in the rain or not. I can't choose not to sweat.
I am impressed by the translucency and the stains. I really like the way it looks. When this talk first started I had pretty much figured this would be some nutty, hippie thing -- and it is, a bit, but it looks really interesting. If only the hygrophilous nature could be eliminated. I feel like if I went out on a humid day with a jacket made of this stuff that I'd come back to find it growing into my skin and I'd be unable to remove it.
If it's cellulose then can't it be converted to an acetate or treated the same way rayon is made? I believe the process to produce rayon is not very difficult or complex. Then it should be water resistant.
Noah Spurrier this is exactly rayon. Only instead of woodpulp, they're using bacteria. The dried bacteria is just cellulose fiber just like rayon production. She's just using kumbucha instead of wood pulp so it's even less environmentally friendly then normal
Zachary Bittner does that mean it's as flammable as nylon
+Celina k Who said anything about nylon??
junbh2 I did. They are taking kumbucha bacteria and drying it out. When you do that you create cellulose fibers. When you break down wood pulp you also get cellulose fibers. Only cellulose fibers are water soluble. So they treat it to make it more like a fabric and the result is rayon.
So, all these people are doing is starting the process of making rayon.
+Zachary Bittner I repeat, who said anything about _nylon_? The previous response was comparing it to nylon. Not to rayon (which would make sense as a comparison).
It can be hydrophobic through plant wax infusion.
The thought emporium accidentally made water proof kombucha when trying to make it like leather lol
Great concept. Seems silly though. And she really needs to work on her terminology.
"We can even begin to imagine growing consumables"?
Yeah...We should be able to imagine it.
We've been doing it since...forever!
Suzannes way of thinking is what makes her and her designs so attractive and inspirational as a real innovative designer. Any minor point about wearability she will be able to solve in the near future, no doubt. Just brilliant!
i can change the colour without chemicals, i use iron oxidation. is iron off the periodic table now lol
what's jargon about "i can change the colour without using complicated artificial dyes"
Stephen because iron oxide isnt A chemical right?
That's called an element sweetheart. Not chemical
Cathar Heretic she is obviously talking about chemical compounds not pure forms of the element so she is technically not treating with chemicals bleach or dyes are what she is specifying as the chemical treatment and she is using oxidation. It's far from being "treated chemically"
Cathar Heretic if you want to dive deeper NOTHING CAN CHANGE COLORS WITHOUT SOME FORM OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS.
But you still have to grow the tea and sugar first, and they take a lot of time, water and energy to grow.
Alternatives to black tea? Perhaps other components high in tannic acid? Acorns? Coffee? Need something cheaper for scaling up... Any recommendations?
As someone already commented. Great plastic bag replacement. If it rips when you get home, who cares. Just like today's paper bags.
Whoops - sorry, I was looking for "grow your own clones". This is of limited or no use to me in my quest for global dictatorship. Sorry - as you were, carry on pls.
It really isn't, most of our resources are currently exhaustible with a majority of our plastics being derived from petroleum oil and materials being taken from non-renewable sources. Having found a way to have virtually no environmental impact whilst forming a material that is a static process and using readily available materials is quite an achievement. Although it's in it's early stages sustainability is key for the continuation of our current standard of living.
If she has a problem with waterproofing, she could just use oil. Maybe not synthetic oil though; it would defeat the purpose of this project.\
Couldn't you waterproof it with some oil?
Yes you can. You need a hard fat such as coconut oil with a little bees wax mixed in.
Just completely dry it out and say OK and wax and oil then you’ll have a long lasting water resistancet substance
I wish that she would have shown the rigidity of the material. It looked a bit stiff.
I have experimented with it, it is stiff. It is not very durable either (even when dry)
That is freaking incredible! Once she works out how to make it water resistant (at least so that it doesn't fall apart in water) it'll be even better. I wonder how much it costs to make something - would much money be lost in the process of clothing the homeless and so on?
Hi Suzanne , I am from Brazil. How is your research with Kombucha leather currently going?
What is the logic behind the thought that its is ok to take adventage of bacteria? That is so idiotic to ignore the fact that we dont kill for leather and its already a biproduct. And then you say that you save the life of animals saying that they feel and live too yet you basically abuse bacterias with this. Do you consider bacteria lifeless and worthless? That is just hypocrytic.
I like the idea of using biology to produce materials and other items (such as batteries), but I don't really subscribe to this view that the use of natural, organic ingredients is somehow better than the use of synthetic ones. If this idea is to be viable on a large scale, they surely wouldn't use tea of the sort that you can buy in a supermarket; they'd probably synthesise or extract the active compounds from something cheaper, but then it wouldn't appeal to hippies so much.
@viralistique by feeding she meant its absorbing her sweat like a cloth would. only this material kinda self destructs by bio-degrading itself once it absorbs it. its not technicly alive.
@MarkArandjus They are jealous. Ted always has the most amazing people who are truly passionate about their careers. Deep inside the haters of TED wish they had followed their own passions too.
good!
This is really cool, I would think about using this type of material for building or trying to replace plastic which is just continuing to be piled on land fills. It sucks it isn't water proof, maybe we will find a micro organism that makes a more sturdy material. : )
Bags would be great for the future, instead of paper or plastic, and maybe containers or boxes where you sell your products in. Great step towards the future!
well her point is that there is a technique that has the potential to use sugar and microbes to produce cellulose fabric.
This technique needs to be perfected.
microbes can be altered to work on different substrates like sugar alcohols or other raw materials (that are waste),
also variation is microbes can produce different fabrics.
Further study will lead to a more sophisticated process and product.
This is not the final product but a prototype
.....phew...have to spell out everything....
I’m growing this right now! Experimentation for fashion is so exciting!
I find it rather annoying that she says she didn't want to use "chemicals" to dye the clothes.
Apart from that, cool science.
@yvald1 Funny joke, though unsurprisingly this woman has done more discovery in one month than you have in your whole life :\
Let's nevermind the fact leather is a better insulation and that animals are without souls
@invent4or Why is this an either/or solution? There are pros and cons to each--the main pro of this technology is that it seems the cellulose can grow almost anywhere, including in low light or cooler environments not suitable for hemp. Hemp has its own advantages as well. Both materials can exist as effective solutions to different problems.
Growing a car? She went a bit over the top there, didn't she?!
will we 3D print out the engine block and grow the shell and tires (of a car)? maybe in about 10 years, of course by then the car will come with enough intelligence to drive itself and run errands for us...
It's always amusing to see some users try to bring a TED video down and make themselves feel better, what assholes, I bet they even check back for thumbsup.
Pretty much every video presenting something new has broader implications than just what's presented, don't be so fast to dismiss something, open your mind people.
Can you get a yeast infection from wearing those tight pants?
Ok, so how do you make this waterproof? It's great that it is organic but is there something you could apply to it (perhaps even chemical) that would sustain it for a period of time with minimal environmental damage. As I see it, it is still better than slaughtering animals.
Let me be the first to say *shopping bags*
Too expensive
this can be used as alternative to single use decorative items ,it has grt scope in indian wedding decorations
I think the concept is nice, but the current result, no so much. However, by doing this talk, the designer/experimenter brings in more brains to think about this. It's probably worth pursuing, especially if people could grow their own by themselves, for themselves.
At 4:07 she says "So what I want to do is say to a future bug..." which makes it clear that she is in the beginning stages of what could be a fabric of the future. It's a shame that the top comment is so close-minded about it.
@RareAirSupply I don't recommend it but weed is better than smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol. Our laws are inconsistent with the science.
TED you can do it!! you can show us how!!
the point of the talk is to show it is *possible* not that she has a perfect technique thats up for manufacturing on mass scale...... it shows that is its so simple and versatile and yet its just the beginning where you are limited by your imagination....
пока смотрел, придумал как можно решить проблему гидрофобности)
How?
Is it alkali-soluble? i.e. Can you make it into rayon?
Guess the xanthation reagents are a bit undesirable... How much better/worse is a cane sugar based bioreformation process from just growing cotton? Water usage has to be similar and cotton processing is pretty well optimised. Not that I am fundamentally against biosynthesis of textiles in vats, but if your starting material is cane sugar you still need fields of photosynthesizing machines to capture your energy and carbon.
Imagine that the scientists manage to modify the genes of that to have all the properties she wanted. That would be amazing, then someone would find out, that that would be a "GME" or whatever it is called. Would be a funny situation
@Toxicflu not necessarily useless - as she says, indoor materials might be a starting place. Besides, with the right coating, it could be made more useful.
I intend to use kiddie pools to grow them. The diameter of a large kiddie pool is about the size of a pelt from a beastly animal, 90 cm (35 inches).
Not bad for self made clothes. I can see this improving if the idea gets picked up by corporations with labs and stuff.
This material is useless. Sweat makes it biodegrade and rain makes it lose its seams. Might as well wear a huge pan cake.
Bacteria or fungi?
@Individualism101 I guess you're saying you missed the message? It isn't so important that clothes can be made from biological cultures; it may be more important that people think outside of the box for solutions to existing problems. Never know what might shake up our world. Many discoveries were made while curious minds were looking for solutions to a completely different problems.
@Toxicflu
With such a limited mind, what are you doing watching TED video's? Go watch some gangsta rap or something.
The speaker herself says it's not yet ready and new future biotechnology will be needed. Biotechnology will be used in sooo many ways in the future. Bacteria that make oil for example. The possibility of clothing I never heard of before and for me is an eye opener.
@HiiTek09 You conveniently leave out hemp and cotton in regard to viable solutions for cutting our oil dependence in regard to textiles. Why do we need to find new ways to make textiles when we have options we don't use due to toxin propaganda. Hemp is a great solution that will never be used because of oil companies controlling governments controlling the legality of a weed that grows with little effort.
@Jimmyretired Or do people that are lazy take up hobbies that mesh with their lifestyle such as weed smoking? So why isn't alcohol illegal? It makes people tired, angry, or uninhibited and generally wild with too much. Or cigarettes that make people angsty or angry without them? What does cannabis do, make people relaxed and hungry? How about make people responsible for their actions rather than arbitrarily banning substances that maybe sometimes could be a little dangerous with someone, maybe.
@justicetrooper Sry I said that wrong I didnt mean this could save the nature from everything that people have ever done.Just meant it could save SOME of it,like waters from the toxic chemicals that come from fabric-dyeing cotton factories etc.This material can be coloured with such a little amount of colour, or in fact with nature-dyeing technigues.Of course they'd still need to develop this product,not to break in the water etc,but I think this could be an ecological option to make fashion.:)
The basic principles here for making materials is good, but the idea of growing a house and even more so a car are ridiculous. This example is pure cellulose, but with a bit more complex engineering you could grow fibers of protein and end up with something like a hybrid between slik and kevlar for lightweight flexible and high strenght clothes. Making the bacteria grow spider silk fibers f.ex. could be interresting.
Kinda odd she is holding a microphone while one is already attached to her face.
Wasn't there a liquid recently that you could spray onto surfaces and it would be water repellant? :P
i think a better use of the cellulose is a paper or building material replacement. rather than cutting down huge numbers of trees, we can have bacteria construct fibers for us effectively and organically. but of course fermentations creates carbon dioxide and ethanol...
I thought it said "Grow your own dish" for a moment and that doesn't seem like a bad idea with this thing. You grow your own dish, put in some soup, let it absorb the soup and eat the dish voila! Ofc the dish would have to be edible material hmm
@carefulcarpenter so you're quoting Einstein because you believe he was knowledgeable, and the point you are trying to make is that knowledge is less important that creativity. Shouldn't you quote someone creative instead?
@Toxicflu I know useless. Bamboo, Coconut husk and Hemp are much more productive and useful not to mention they are allready in use. This was just let her kamboocha ferment too much when she came up with this idea.
@Toxicflu the current material is but with genetically engineering the microbes to form fibers with specific properties, just as what she said, it would become a good alternative to the common textile materials
Using a living organism through photosynthesism providing materal for clothes... Wonder if this was invented before? What about cotton, linnen, and in the extension silk and wool. This is a revolution!!!!.... NOT
@depresso..... come on man, all the best ideas are shunned at the beginning, i think this has real potential, look at what she can do now at the early stages of this discovery. 10 years n well be growing all sorts !!!!
awesome!, now we can use cheap 3rd world african labor to grow, harvest and process sugar cane into all the sugar required to make a tiny piece of "kombucha leather" :)
but people will still eat cows and pigs and their hides would be taken. The real problem is food.
Looks too much like flesh...probably wouldn't wear.
Imagine the Bacteria and "Fungal" infections from wearing these clothes.
Interesting...I wonder what became of this, seeing that the talk is 5 years old.
@Toxicflu
well, this is only the beginning. most of what we use for fabrics is un-sustainable and it's production is toxic so don't just douse everything in your negativity.
@ZenCross1 don't miss the point here, we're talking about her, not me. When the day that I make something public comes, I'll make sure it's groundbreaking, not this crap.
Do you need tea if you aren't going to drink it? Can SCOBY grow on just sugar water?
So you have to grow sugar to then make this concoction to then make clothing. Why don't you just plant cotton instead of the sugar needed to make this shit?
thats all very well, however the real problem within the textile industry is that it still ignores, at least at a main stream level, hemp and bamboo.
Do we really need to wear kombucha... is this the future... am I in the future
@Toxicflu dude give them a chace its in the begining stages mby they can ad somthing to stop the degradeing they just need a few years
@mitchnesbitt not ALL women are attractive siire. And then there is the issue of some men wearing the clothes... sooo.......
*shudder* :)
Gonna need something to stop insects from eating the material, this will eff the organic out of it
so far it looks like crap. I hope bioengineering will make that bacteria make something cool so that everyone would want to wear it.
@Individualism101 doesnt it take alot of creativity to figure out the universe warps in not only space but time as well?......
The ending is pretty gross, haha
it reminds me of the X-men movie where the politician becomes a water absorbing mutant
@Toxicflu It is useless now, just like the ancient clothing were, but it is a start of a new process that may succeed.
@RockalilyDunne But it would be the pits to get if you get caught in the rain with it. :P Mmmm jello bags...
@1989Gez1989
You're getting unnecessarily caught up in semantics. Of course she meant industrial chemicals.
The supra-absorbancy, does it mean that the clothes go on absorbing everything, every chemicals, or at least every hydrophilous chemicals. Not safe. The part of the video I don't like is about OGM kombucha making the 3D cloths, hydrophobic cloths, etc. I don't know if she intended OGM, but it seems. What's the advantage to have non chemical dyes and OGM kombucha?
I want TED in HD :(
this is a step back in technology... not seeing any benefit in clothing which you cannot actually wear.
Since it's cellulose, you could roll the fine sheets into straws😉