Textile Waste for Future Feedstock
May 21, 2026
CO-GROWN
Designing with Living Colour and Engineered Materials
How can engineered living materials reshape the future of everyday objects?
The Biodesign Competition, part of the UKRI-funded Sustainable Style for Clean Growth project, invites emerging designers, architects, artists and makers to explore the potential of self-dyed bacterial cellulose, produced through engineered microbial cultures that grow both material and colour simultaneously, reducing reliance on conventional dyeing and finishing.
Working from a material library developed by Imperial College London (Tom Ellis and Koon-Yang Lee Labs) and Living Construction HBBE, from Northumbria University, we’re looking for ambitious, feasible proposals that treat living materials not as substitutes for what already exists, but as the basis for new aesthetic and material possibilities, across fashion, interiors, objects and craft.
Selected finalists will receive funded support to fabricate their proposals for exhibition and judging, with outcomes including monetary prizes, exhibition of final works, a book feature, press exposure, and residency opportunities with the Living Construction HBBE.
📅 Applications close: 26 October 2026
🔗 Full brief and application form: https://co-grown.design/
