Christopher Bellamy
MA Biodesign
Central Saint Martins UAL
Graduates: 2024
Specialisms: Sustainable Design / Design Research / Material Innovation
My location: London, United Kingdom
Christopher Bellamy
First Name: Christopher
Last Name: Bellamy
University / College: Central Saint Martins UAL
Course / Program: MA Biodesign
Graduates: 2024
Specialisms: Sustainable Design / Design Research / Material Innovation
My Location: London, United Kingdom
Website: Click To See Website
About
Chris is a biodesigner and engineer who is fascinated by how we can live in more sustainable and regenerative ways. After studying engineering at the University of Cambridge, Chris started his career at Jaguar Land Rover, helping to develop their first electric vehicle, the Jaguar I-Pace. He then stepped into the footwear and apparel industry, developing customisable and recyclable shoes, in the hope of reducing the impact of the 20+ billion pairs of shoes made every year.After realising the incremental improvements to plastics and metals would never be sufficient to meet climate targets, Chris has changed his career to work with living things, as he believes nature does it better.Chris has just finished his Masters in Biodesign at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London.His research was focussed on how living materials could be used in our everyday lives, by co-evolving traditional knowledge with the latest scientific research.
Inspired by corals’ symbiotic relationship with microorganisms, a contemporary living material was developed that encapsulates bioluminescent micro-algae. The material lives for at least 6 months, emitting light in response to touch, and needing only sunlight in return. In collaboration with Polynesian artisans, traditional knowledge and science came together to co-create a series of artifacts which demonstrate how living materials can reconnect us to nature through intercultural and interspecies collaboration, and how biotechnology can move beyond the laboratory. A drum, a swimsuit, and a necklace were made; combining local materials and practices, with the living bioluminescent material. Like Polynesian traditional knowledge, which exists only in living memory, there is a risk that it may die. However this fragility allows it to adapt, react, and interact – which is what makes this temporal state of livingness so beautiful.
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