"When we weave nature’s forms into our daily spaces, we don’t just create beauty, we cultivate balance, well-being, and a deeper connection to the world around us."
sustainable alternative to toxic pigments
In Living Colour, designer Lilian van Daal explores how bacteria can create sustainable structural colours as an alternative to toxic pigments and dyes. Through biomimicry, biotechnology and design, new possibilities for colour and material innovation emerge.
NATURE AS SOURCE
In nature, colour often arises not from pigments but from microscopic structures that manipulate light. This so-called structural colour creates the shimmer of peacock feathers, butterfly wings and beetle shells. It does not fade, contains no toxins, and is entirely biological. Living Colour explores how this natural phenomenon can be applied in product design.
living material
For this project, Lilian van Daal collaborated with biotech company Hoekmine BV, which specializes in bacteria that produce structural colour. Flavobacterium IR1 self-organises into patterns that reflect light like a photonic crystal. Cultivating these bacteria creates colour that is both aesthetic and ecological, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional dyeing processes.
colour in motion
The research culminated in a kinetic object that demonstrates how colour shifts with light and motion. Flakes of bacterial colour reveal their full spectrum as the piece moves. This dynamic experience highlights how structural colour can be not only sustainable but also interactive and emotionally engaging within product design.
