Dezeen's top 10 innovative materials of 2019
From lab-grown spider silk to cellulose, design and technology reporter Natashah Hitti continues our review of the year with 10 of the most interesting materials developed or used throughout 2019, with a particular focus on reuse.
Seaweed
As the climate crisis puts pressure on people to think twice about what they produce, many designers looked to algal forms like seaweed as a sustainable alternative to plastic and other materials.
Luisa Kahlfeldt and Jasmine Linington both used a fabric called SeaCell, composed of seaweed and eucalyptus, to create sustainable alternatives to disposable diapers and the materials used in couture fashion respectively.
Copenhagen School of Business and Design student Kathryn Larsen developed a way for seaweed to be used as prefab panelling or thatching, while this year's London Marathon runners were offered edible seaweed drinks capsules in place of plastic bottles.
Spider silk
On the same eco-friendly streak, garments from vegan spider silk came to the fore this year. For example, biotech startup Spiber created the first commercially available jacket made from synthetic spider silk for The North Face.
Adidas and Stella McCartney also worked with Californian biotech startup Bolt Threads to recreate a version of the proteins found in spider silk in a laboratory, to form the "fully biodegradable" Biofabric Tennis Dress.
Responsive materials
Smart, adaptive materials have also been popular among designers. Fashion designer Ying Ga...
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