bio-leather cultivation
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 001                                    Leather is one of the most versatile of materials, its flexibility and tactility has meant it was the material of choice for thousands of years. However ethical concerns around the consumption of animal skin has led to explorations of other types of leathers such as bacterial leather produced by a 'SCOBY' (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).

 002                                   
The bacteria leather is highly transluce-nt allowing the human sillohuette to shine through

 003                                    The 'SCOBY' grows to the size of the container it is growing in, gradually getting thicker until it forms a 1cm skin that when dried will make around a 1mm thick leather. The cultuvation period varies depending on the size of the SCOBY required, but for my experimental batches (30 x 70) cm it took 3 months of undisturbed growth to create a 0.5 milimiter thickness

 004                                    After the kombucha has been growing, it can be separated from its fermented liquid (which can be drunk or used to continue more kombucha growth) and must be washed and treated to stabilise the material. Treatments of wax and oil help to keep the flexibility of the material, but it is prone to drying out.

 005                                   This has been a two year research project, where I have been refining my methods and applying scientific methodologies. I collaborated with the UCL centre for Imaging to analyse the types of yeast and bacteria involved in the process of fermentation of Kombucha. The slides show my method of cultivation, feeding and analysis