Micro’be’ is a 2006 “fermented fashion” project led by artist Donna Franklin & Gary Cass, a researcher at the University of Western Australia, where a dress is created by fermenting living microbes from wine.
Wet “skins” are applied to the body and when they dry, the cellulose microfibers take on the consistency of cotton.
Shine on Yahoo! has more of the story.
Instead of lifeless weaving machines producing the textile, living microbes will ferment a garment.
A fermented garment will not only rupture the meaning of traditional interactions with body and clothing; but also raise questions around the contentious nature of the living materials themselves.
This project redefines the production of woven materials.
By combining art and science knowledge and with a little inventiveness, the ultimate goal will be to produce a bacterial fermented seamless garment that forms without a single stitch.
