SCOBY Breastplate: Slowly Growing a Microbial Interface
Awards: Best Pictorial at ACM TEI‘23
People: Fiona Bell, Derrek Chow, Hyelin Choi, and Mirela Alistar
Year: 2021-2022
Description: The SCOBY Breastplate is a sustainable, interactive wearable that was slowly grown and fabricated from kombucha SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) biofilm over 13 weeks. When worn, LEDs embedded within the SCOBY breastplate produce different light responses in reaction to the wearer being hugged, tapped, or brushed. Through this project, we challenge the fail-fast and rapid prototyping trends that inhabit creative technology research and instead explore what it means to design at the pace of another living organism.
Outcomes: ACM TEI’23 Pictorial, ACM TEI’23 Studio, ACM CHI’22 Interactivity, Currents New Media Art + Technology Festival 2024, 9News, CU Boulder Today
