Kombucha applications at IDC

Team: 2

Team members: Emile Deprez, Amber Hochepied, Wout Mussche

Coach: Jasper, jasper@glimps.bio (GLIMPS) + UGent (Francesca)



Challenge: Annually over 350,000,000 cow hides are used for leather production leading to a big environmental impact, which requires the development of sustainable alternatives. The use of bacteria and yeast to grow a sustainable alternative could be one of the options to replace animal-based leather, thereby merging the fields of material design and biology. Unfortunately, the application of such leather like materials still remains difficult to scale, as the technical performance of the materials still remains unsure. The goal of working with bacterial leather is to prototype with the material in the design atelier and find ways to optimise the material for further application in the design process.

  • How can we introduce this knowledge in our IO curriculum?

  • How should the prototyping and use of kombucha leather be organised in a design atelier?

  • How can we engage different stakeholders and actors in this mission? How can we make this a self-sustainable system?

  • ...


Starter kit includes:

  1. Scoby started

  2. Vinegar

  3. Sugar


Infrastructure needed:

  • Autoclave (BioFabLab at IDC)

  • Pots and small utensils


Specific sources: