The larger goal of this project is to help realize the beauty and technologic abundance in Nature and its ability to give birth to brand new sustainable industries.
“This project comes from a potty idea :
In urban areas, one usually sees a row of trees parallel to streetlights.
Then why not hybridize them?
My starting point was to work on living organisms without tampering with them :
with the purpose of becoming a horticulturist-designer. Everyone knows about light emitting organisms such as jellyfishes and fireflies, but very few know that there are also mushrooms. The idea is to understand the chemistry at the core of this phenomenon and try and replicate it inside a vegetal material.
Then the project is all about shaping this material in order to produce light emitting equipments, furnitures and signs for urban areas.
Besides, bioluminescence is very sensitive to environmental quality, thus it can be used as an indicator of healthy surroundings.
As a designer, I obviously need the help of specialists and researchers in order to uncover the realm of biological interactions.
The project has won the first prize of Design Academy on Newzy.com. This grants me with media coverage and helps in securing partnerships with industries and R&D centres.
The present phase is rapid prototyping with models and drawings in order to initiate discussions with potential partners.”
Above text and images by Audrey Richard-Laurent
See a glow in the dark christmas tree here.
“No electricity to illuminate just the clean and cold blue-green radiant energy
of the “Microbes of Light” (Vibrio fischeri isolated from a local squid)
shining brightly in the dark for hours in water and at room temperature.
Use BIOLUMINESCENCE for a greener world.
Wishing One and All a Merry Blue-Green Christmas
Prepared and photographed by Edward Quinto, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, The Philippines
30 November 2007″
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