Toward Ecocentric Biodesign?
The article 'Fungi Fabrics and Living Colors: Toward Ecocentric Biodesign?', written by Lianne Toussaint, Daniëlle Bruggeman and Jeroen van den Eijnde, in the journal Design Issues (MIT Press) is out now!
This article argues for a shift toward more ecocentric, rather anthropocentric, biodesign processes for clothing and textile design. It discusses mainstream understandings of biomimicry and biodesign, rethinking these approaches in a more-than-human and ecocentric direction. The article analyzes the cases of mycelium-based garments and bacterial textile dyes to, on the one hand, show how current biodesigners are already successfully working with natural resources by growing, collaborating with, regenerating, and restoring nature. On the other hand, these cases show the potential for biodesign practices to move even further beyond a human-centered understanding of designing with nature.
We look at the discourses of new materialisms and posthuman ecocriticism in relation to the art and design traditions of making “things.” In arguing for a less hierarchical relationship with nature in biodesign, we build on the convergence of posthumanist and post-anthropocentric thought, which understands human subjects as relational, embodied, and embedded in nature–culture continuums.
