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身為時裝設計師,我想到的材料總是像這樣,或這樣,又或許是這樣。但後來我遇見一位生物學家,現在我想到的材料是像這樣。綠茶、糖、些許微生物,跟一點時間。基本上我是用一種紅茶菌配方,這是一種細菌、酵母和其它微生物的共生混合物,它們在發酵過程中會產生纖維素,經過一段時間,這些從液體中產生的細絲會形成一個表層,並在其表面產生一塊墊子。
這個過程從煮茶開始,我每次大約要煮30公升的茶,然後在茶還熱時,加入幾公斤糖,我們將糖攪拌到完全溶解,然後將它倒入一個生長池,我們需要確認溫度已降到攝氏30度以下,然後就可以加入這些活有機體,同時加入一些醋酸。一旦你讓這個步驟開始運作,事實上你可以再回收利用先前發酵的液體。我們需要維持一個生長最佳溫度,於是我在生長池下放了發熱墊,並用恆溫器控制溫度。事實上,天氣熱時,我可以在戶外培養它。所以,這是我的迷你布料農場。
大約三天後,液體表面就會出現泡泡,這告訴我們它正進行全面發酵作用,細菌正在食用液體中糖的養分,它們製造這些純纖維素的細小奈米纖維,它們會黏在一起,形成層次,並在表面形成一張薄片。大約在二至三個禮拜後,我們會看到約一英吋厚的東西。左邊的池子是經過5天的,右邊是經過10天的。這是一種靜態的培養,你不需要為它做任何事,只要看著它生長就行,它不需要光線。
到了可採收時,你將它從池中取出,用冷肥皂水清洗。它這時是非常重的,超過百分之90是水份,因此我們需要讓水份蒸發,所以我將它攤開在木片上。同樣地,你能在戶外做這個,只要讓它在空氣中風乾就行。在乾燥過程中它會緊縮,所得產物全視你的配方而定,它可能像非常輕的透明紙張,或有彈性的植物皮革,然後你可以裁剪它,並用一般的方法縫紉它,或使用濕材料繞著一個立體形狀塑形。當水分蒸發的時候,它會自我接合在一起,並形成接縫。
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以下為系統擷取之英文原文
So as a fashion designer, I've always tended to think of materials something like this, or this, or maybe this. But then I met a biologist, and now I think of materials like this -- green tea, sugar, a few microbes and a little time. I'm essentially using a kombucha recipe, which is a symbiotic mix of bacteria, yeasts and other micro-organisms, which spin cellulose in a fermentation process. Over time, these tiny threads form in the liquid into layers and produce a mat on the surface.
So we start by brewing the tea. I brew up to about 30 liters of tea at a time, and then while it's still hot, add a couple of kilos of sugar. We stir this in until it's completely dissolved and then pour it into a growth bath. We need to check that the temperature has cooled to below 30 degrees C. And then we're ready to add the living organism. And along with that, some acetic acid. And once you get this process going, you can actually recycle your previous fermented liquid. We need to maintain an optimum temperature for the growth. And I use a heat mat to sit the bath on and a thermostat to regulate it. And actually, in hot weather, I can just grow it outside. So this is my mini fabric farm.
After about three days, the bubbles will appear on the surface of the liquid. So this is telling us that the fermentation is in full swing. And the bacteria are feeding on the sugar nutrients in the liquid. So they're spinning these tiny nano fibers of pure cellulose. And they're sticking together, forming layers and giving us a sheet on the surface. After about two to three weeks, we're looking at something which is about an inch in thickness. So the bath on the left is after five days, and on the right, after 10. And this is a static culture. You don't have to do anything to it; you just literally watch it grow. It doesn't need light.
And when it's ready to harvest, you take it out of the bath and you wash it in cold, soapy water. At this point, it's really heavy. It's over 90 percent water, so we need to let that evaporate. So I spread it out onto a wooden sheet. Again, you can do that outside and just let it dry in the air. And as it's drying, it's compressing, so what you're left with, depending on the recipe, is something that's either like a really light-weight, transparent paper, or something which is much more like a flexible vegetable leather. And then you can either cut that out and sew it conventionally, or you can use the wet material to form it around a three-dimensional shape. And as it evaporates, it will knit itself together, forming seams.
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這件夾克的顏色完全來自於綠茶,我想它看起來有點像人皮,這激起了我的興趣。因為它是有機的,我非常想試著將化學添加物減到最少,藉由使鐵氧化的過程,我可以不用染料就改變它的顏色,使用水果和蔬菜著色來製造出有機圖樣,使用靛藍染料來使它抗菌。事實上,棉花要在靛藍染料中浸泡18次才能有這麼深的顏色。因為這種纖維素的超級吸收力,它只需要浸泡一次,而且時間相當短。
我還不能使它防水,所以如果我今天要穿著這件衣服在雨中行走,它會馬上開始吸收大量的水,這件衣服會變得非常重,最後接縫可能會裂開,讓我感覺赤裸裸的。這可能是不錯的表演服,但絕不適合日常生活穿著。我正在尋找的是使這種材料具有我所需要特性的方法,所以我想對未來的細菌說,「吐一條絲給我,按這個方向排列,讓它具有疏水性,同時,繞著這個立體形狀塑形。」
細菌纖維素已被實際應用於傷口癒合上,或許未來可用於製造具生物相容性的血管,甚至可能用於替代骨骼組織,但在合成生物學方面,事實上,我們可以想像,設計細菌來製造一些具有我們想要的品質、份量和形狀的東西。顯然對身為設計師的我來說,這非常令人興奮,因為我接著就會開始想,哇,我們事實上可以想像培養出消費性產品。
使用微生物最讓我興奮的是它們的效率,我們只需培養我們所需的,不會形成浪費。事實上,我們可以利用廢棄物來做這件事。舉例來說,來自食品處理工廠的廢棄糖水,最後,當利用完後,我們能讓它自然進行生物降解,就像那些蔬菜皮一樣。我並不是說微生物纖維素將會取代棉花、皮革或其它紡織材料,但我確實認為它對我們日趨珍貴的自然資源來說,是相當聰明且永續的新材料。
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So the color in this jacket is coming purely from green tea. I guess it also looks a little bit like human skin, which intrigues me. Since it's organic, I'm really keen to try and minimize the addition of any chemicals. I can make it change color without using dye by a process of iron oxidation. Using fruit and vegetable staining, create organic patterning. And using indigo, make it anti-microbial. And in fact, cotton would take up to 18 dips in indigo to achieve a color this dark. And because of the super-absorbency of this kind of cellulose, it just takes one, and a really short one at that.
What I can't yet do is make it water-resistant. So if I was to walk outside in the rain wearing this dress today, I would immediately start to absorb huge amounts of water. The dress would get really heavy, and eventually the seams would probably fall apart -- leaving me feeling rather naked. Possibly a good performance piece, but definitely not ideal for everyday wear. What I'm looking for is a way to give the material the qualities that I need. So what I want to do is say to a future bug, "Spin me a thread. Align it in this direction. Make it hydrophobic. And while you're at it, just form it around this 3D shape."
Bacterial cellulose is actually already being used for wound healing, and possibly in the future for biocompatible blood vessels, possibly even replacement bone tissue. But with synthetic biology, we can actually imagine engineering this bacterium to produce something that gives us the quality, quantity and shape of material that we desire. Obviously, as a designer, that's really exciting. Because then I start to think, wow, we could actually imagine growing consumable products.
What excites me about using microbes is their efficiency. So we only grow what we need. There's no waste. And in fact, we could make it from a waste stream -- so for example, waste sugar stream from a food processing plant. Finally, at the end of use, we could biodegrade it naturally along with your vegetable peelings. What I'm not suggesting is that microbial cellulose is going to be a replacement for cotton, leather or other textile materials. But I do think it could be quite a smart and sustainable addition to our increasingly precious natural resources.
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或許最終我們不會看見這些微生物的影響力造成流行,我們能夠想像的是,例如生長一座檯燈、一張椅子、一輛車、或甚至一棟房子,所以我想請問你們的是,未來你們會選擇培養什麼?謝謝大家。
(掌聲)Bruno Giussani:Suzanne,讓我很快問個問題。你今天的衣服不是隨便搭的。(Suzanne Lee: 沒錯)這件是你培養的夾克之一嗎?
SL:是的,沒錯,這或許是-仍在進行中的計畫的一部分,因為這件夾克事實上正在你們眼前進行生物降解,(笑聲)它正在吸收我的汗,而且正在分解這件夾克。
BG:好吧,我們讓你去維護並拯救它吧!Suzanne Lee。(SL: 謝謝)
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Ultimately, maybe it won't even be fashion where we see these microbes have their impact. We could, for example, imagine growing a lamp, a chair, a car or maybe even a house. So I guess what my question to you is: in the future, what would you choose to grow? Thank you very much.
(Applause) Bruno Giussani: Suzanne, just quickly, what you're wearing is not random. (Suzanne Lee: No.) This is one of the jackets you grew?
SL: Yes, it is. It's probably -- part of the project's still in process, because this one is actually biodegrading in front of your eyes. (Laughter) It's absorbing my sweat, and it's feeding on it.
BG: Okay, so we'll let you go and save it, and rescue it. Suzanne Lee. (SL: Thank you.)