Suzanne Lee

Suzanne Lee is the Director of The BioCouture Research Project and Senior Research Fellow in Fashion at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design (University of The Arts London). BioCouture is a research project harnessing nature to propose a radical future fashion vision. It investigates the use of microbial-cellulose, grown in a laboratory, to produce clothing. The ultimate goal is to literally grow a dress from a vat of liquid...Suzanne is collaborating with scientists to unite design with cutting edge bio and nano technologies.

She is the author of the groundbreaking book ‘Fashioning The Future: tomorrow's wardrobe' (Thames & Hudson 2005/7) and lectures and exhibits internationally. The latest BioCouture garments are on display at London's Science Museum as part of ‘Trash Fashion...designing out waste', and ‘The Future That Never Was - Alter Nature' at The ModeMuseum, Hasselt, Belgium. Suzanne Lee is a 2011 TED Fellow at TED.com.(not to be confused with UAL's 'TED' group:Textiles, Environment, Design at Chelsea)

A key driver of contemporary textile innovation for fashion is the need to find new sustainable fibres and production techniques that contribute towards biodegradable garments and close the cycle of production, disposal and reuse. Many of todays textiles are made from plant-based forms of cellulose such as cotton, hemp, wood or manmade derivatives. Bacterial or microbial-cellulose however is produced when bacteria feed on a sugar solution - it is eco-friendly, biodegradable and sustainable.

Bacterial-cellulose is commercially produced for a variety of uses and industries; in Indonesia they flavour it with coconut water and eat it as a sweet dessert (Nata-de-Coco), while in Japan, Sony Corporation compress it to form a super-sensitive hi-fi speaker membrane.

BioCouture clothes can be composted with food or waste vegetation in the garden.

http://biocouture.posterous.com