Growing bacterial cellulose using beer by-product to produce, and teach how to produce, a compostable leather-like material for product design.
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Did you know bacteria can transform Mexican beer by-product into a compostable leather-like material? We want to use trub (beer by-product) from local breweries to feed bacteria that produces nanocellulose in order to biofabricate a compostable leather-like material, that we named “Fabteria”, for fashion, furniture and other consumer goods. Mexico is the largest exporter of beer in the world. This abundant and readily available food waste can become a valuable resource to make a material with outstanding mechanical and aesthetic features.
Animal and synthetic leather are both highly polluting industries and it takes a lot of time, energy and resources to be manufactured. We see material biofabrication as a way to create with and for nature.
How? 1. organize a biofabrication lab in collaboration with a Kombucha producer from Aguascalientes. 2. start producing Fabteria with sugar and tea in order to organize the manufacturing process with less variables. 3. Collect trub from a local brewery and use it to feed the bacteria instead of sugar and tea. 4. Design products using Fabteria 5. Offer courses to people and companies so they can replicate Fabteria. 6. We don’t envision a massive scale production. Instead, we imagine several small, artesanal production places that will spread organically.
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