Critical Conversations: bridging pathways forward to greater understanding and creative solutions.

SCOBY Project

By Moein Shashaei

"The SCOBY Project explores the use of Symbiotic Cultures of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) as a living, growable material for interdisciplinary design, education, and sustainable making. Rooted in fermentation science, biomaterial experimentation, and community-engaged pedagogy, the project spans research, public workshops, and the development of tools such as the SCOBY STEAM Learning Kit. Through hands-on cultivation and transformation of SCOBY into biodegradable sheets, the project invites students, artists, and educators to consider new relationships between living systems, material culture, and environmental care.

This work sits at the intersection of biofabrication, critical design, and socially engaged art and education. It contributes to growing conversations in design research about post-human making, symbiosis as a framework for community, and the potential of non-extractive, living materials to reshape how we teach, create, and think about sustainability. In the classroom, SCOBY becomes a platform for embodied learning, experimentation, and reflection—offering a model for interdisciplinary curricula that unite STEM with social and ecological inquiry.

The impact of the SCOBY Project lies in its potential to shift how we frame material innovation—not as a purely technological pursuit, but as a relational, ethical, and educational practice. It opens space for collaborative inquiry into more reciprocal ways of making with nature and offers both speculative and practical pathways for transforming the future of design education."

A sculptural hand with extended fingers made from bone-colored rods and a translucent, reddish organic skin-like material. The hand stands upright on a white ceramic base surrounded by a pool of red liquid, suggesting a biomaterial experiment or art piece.
A pair of sculptural objects made of translucent resin-like materials: one is a small rounded vessel with an amber-colored liquid and a glass-like dropper, and the other is a green-topped pedestal holding candy-like red-orange shards. Set against a soft white-pink gradient background.
A warm-lit table lamp made of cardboard and a translucent organic material, likely a bioplastic or SCOBY-based film, which forms the cylindrical lampshade. The light glows from within, and a switch is mounted on the cardboard base.
A repeat image of a SCOBY culture with a central creamy-white dome surrounded by a gelatinous, light brown ring, sitting on a parchment-like surface. The glossy texture and irregular edges emphasize the biological material’s natural formation.
A close-up of a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) mass resting on a tan sheet, with a bulbous, creamy white center surrounded by a gelatinous, translucent brown ring. The organic material appears moist and textured.