Spirulina

काई | KAAI

A carbon-negative alternative to traditional Indian block printing.

Microalgae, are microorganisms that perform photosynthesis: they absorb carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen. Algae produce more than 50% of the world's oxygen. They purify wastewater and have the ability to remediate the surrounding land, water and atmosphere. Spirulina is one such cyanobacteria commonly found in Jaipur. A city known for its rich textile heritage.

Hand Block Printing is synonymous with Indian culture and Jaipur is the city most associated with this craft and in particular, hand block printing. Block printing plays a major role in the local community of this city supporting thousands of skilled craftspeople.
Although historically the industry used natural and local dyes, today this industry uses almost entirely synthetic and artificial dyes that contribute to the harmful effects of global warming and pollute the local waterways, lakes and land with their toxic chemical composition.

This project explores how microalgae, a prolific, cheap and carbon-absorbing superpower, could produce hand-crafted textiles that would capture more carbon in the process of harvesting it than it emits.

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Future Materials Encounter

Future Materials Encounters are a series of workshops and conversations around the materials of the Future Materials Bank. Each event in the series focuses on a specific material, staging a conversation between the maker and the audience.