“We believe that our electronic future is grown, not extracted,” say material designers Catherine Euale and Paige Perillat-Piratoine. Earlier this year, they became winners of the Redesign Everything Challenge with Electric Skin, a project that pioneers the use of bacteria in technological applications.
Working within a multidisciplinary team that includes designer Nada Elkharashi and biologist Sequoia Fischer, the duo are currently developing electrical sensors that will be partially growable and compostable. This innovation not only taps into renewable resources but also addresses the global reliance on critical minerals and the mounting e-waste crisis. With time, the hope is that it will lead to new possibilities in other sectors as well. As they put it: “In the future, we imagine crafting entire phones, or coating entire buildings with Electric Skin.”
We spoke to Catherine and Paige to learn more about their trailblazing research, and how it fits into their vision of a “more-than-human world.”
Prototyping with electrically conductive bacteria. Photo: Electric Skin.
Let’s start at the beginning! Could you introduce yourselves and your project?
Catherine: I’m Catherine, and I am part of the Electric Skin team. I would say that I collaborate with living organisms to make materials that are more compatible with living systems. So the bulk of my work is material research and electronics fabrication.
Paige: I’m Paige, and I do a lot of the coordination, storytelling and business development for Electric Skin. We all met at something called the Biodesign Challenge, which brought a lot of hobbyists together to look at how we might redesign electronics. Essentially we got smushed together, but we really got along and then agreed on this project that was very speculative at the beginning, but ended up as what it is now.
What was your first entry into biodesign?
C: In a way, I’ve always been connected to animals and other ways of thinking that are not human; that are to do with plants or that are microbial or fungal. So this has always been interesting to me.
But I actually used to work in film, and I made costumes for TV shows and for movies. And at some point, I started thinking that there must be a better way to do textiles. In this search I stumbled upon natural dyes, which I would say was my gateway into more biological forms of research.
From there, I started to play a lot more with DIY laboratory setups, and making textiles out of mycelium, out of algae, out of bacteria. And I became enamoured with the pluriverse of worlds that are happening on this planet at the same time as those we think of as human.
“The question was: how do we make the devices and objects in our everyday existence come more alive through design?”
That’s how I came into this line of research in general, and then with the project, it was more about speculating how we treat objects or materials that are inanimate. How they become so disposable to us because we don’t have a kinship with them, or think of them as living. So the question was: how do we make the devices and objects in our everyday existence come more alive through design, through textures, and through the materials we use?
From left: Electrical proteins under a microscope. Photo: Electric Skin. Catherine during the Redesign Everything Sprint. Portrait: Anisa Xhomaqi.
P: For me, there was a module called Synthetic Biology at my university, where I learned to develop a similarly speculative project. But I think my interest is also very selfish. (laughs) I feel terrible with the materials around me — plastic and cement and glass — and I just need the world to be different. And so I am thrilled to be working on new materials that change the paradigms of materiality around us.
Why focus on electronics?
C: Well, when I first started delving into making biomaterials, I had to learn to put together some of my own equipment for these custom processes that I needed. I realised that in the process of making electronics, you create a tonne of waste. Even when you’re just prototyping, and even when it’s a tiny machine.
I thought, maybe there’s a way that some of the degradable materials that I’m working with could be applicable to electronic devices. That’s how I came to be in this group, and to learn about electrically conductive bacteria. In the end, what we’re exploring are diverse naturally occurring materials and phenomena that can help us create and apply electrical components in a way that is not extractive and toxic.
P: Electronics have allowed us to do so much. But as with everything, the way we’re manufacturing them is absolutely not in alignment with planetary boundaries, or with the natural world. From mining to e-waste, the whole process of making a device is completely destructive. Then on top of that, when we met, we were also thinking about the texture of devices and the way that we’ve come to use them.
“Electronics have allowed us to do so much. But as with everything, the way we’re manufacturing them is absolutely not in alignment with planetary boundaries.”
We realised there’s an unhealthy relationship with the planet, but also with ourselves when it comes to electronics. And we were trying to rethink all of that, which is a big task, of course. But I think what’s fun about synthetic biology is that it can actually help you rethink absolutely everything. You’re looking at the microbial world, at the tiny and the minuscule, and you’re building that up to create new things, new textures.
What is something you’ve learned from your other team members?
P: There are two things that come to mind immediately. First is the role of design in science and the importance of bringing these fields together. Especially considering how we can better align our solutions with a more-than-human world.
The other thing is that as women, we see that entrepreneurship is something that’s usually so fast-paced. You fundraise, there’s a whole trajectory to it, and we see that trajectory. But we haven’t been able to do it that way. We’ve had to really slow down, and honour our colleagues that are mothers. We’ve learned to lean in, enjoy the process, and see where maybe there’s more depth to what we can do.
From left: Paige during the Redesign Everything Sprint. Portrait: Anisa Xhomaqi. Electrical protein tests. Photo: Electric Skin.
What stage are you at with the development of the project?
C: At the moment we’re still in the research stage. It has taken some time to arrive here because our team is made up of a decentralised group of women, who live in four different continents. But we’re happy to say that we have finally made a proper circuit that delivers enough voltage to light up an LED. So we have our proof of concept.
P: Yeah, the wording around what we’re doing is still a bit gooey — but basically, I’d say that we’re developing a compostable battery using regenerative materials like algae and bacterial proteins. Another way to say it is we’re developing an energy harvesting cell. Something that harvests moisture in the air, uses it to create an electrical charge, and can go back to the earth at the end of its life.
What kind of responses do you get from people?
P: When we’re talking more to scientists and designers, there’s a real sense of awe because they’re usually quite attuned to the issues that we’re addressing. Anyone who’s seen a pile of e-waste understands that yeah, we really need this. Even more so when you understand that as we move towards electric vehicles and solar panels, we’re going to need to mine and plunder the earth even more. So when we bring attention to the fact that there’s another possibility and that it starts with bacteria — that’s when we get people to connect.
“When we bring attention to the fact that there’s another possibility and that it starts with bacteria — that’s when we get people to connect.”
Prototyping with electrically conductive bacteria. Photo: Electric Skin.
What would you say is the dream application of this research?
C: I think most tangibly, this technology could be applied to environmental sensors where they could eventually partly degrade, in places where continuous energy is required,in off-grid or remote places. Because something our planet is abundant in thankfully is water – and therefore humidity in the air, even in the most remote of places. And that’s what really powers our device, the nanowires are just the cables that make it happen.
P: Yes, we’re still trying to figure out the fields of application, where it’s most useful now. But where we’ve excelled because of our backgrounds, I think, is also in the speculative. And, you know, what does this mean for the future? Where could it go? How do we talk to other scientists to figure out all the different branching ways that this could be developed? That’s where our hearts are. Developing and prototyping electronics is fun to a certain extent. But, we love the storytelling aspect too.
Right now, we’re super deep in this exploration. And when I think about the far future, my imagination goes straight towards the things that I’ve seen in my youth. Like the Star Trek species that’s in fluidic space and whose ship essentially an extension of their body. That’s what I’m seeing. I don’t know if it’s possible. But then in a way, I think part of the goal for us is to help the conversation along in that direction.
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This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Interview by Natasha Berting and Chieri Higa.