Cellugami is an interdisciplinary project that examines origami tessellations and alternative cellulose-based materials to create sustainable packaging structures. Tessellations are particularly conducive to this application due to their functional and aesthetic nature: they are highly kinematic, often flat-foldable, and able to absorb energy while remaining resilient and deformable. Tessellations are conventionally either hand-folded from paper or assembled with fabricated two-dimensional facets, with recent 4D technologies focusing on 鈥渇old-free鈥 alternatives that often use synthetic materials. In search of a sustainable, bio-based alternative, Laureen worked with Professor Bahareh Barati and the Material Aesthetics Lab at Eindhoven University of Technology to test the viability of growing tessellations with cellulose-based substrates.
Over the course of two months, the collaboration combined approaches from biodesign, digital fabrication, and craft to optimize processes for growing mycelium into dynamic Miura tessellations. This included the development of two distinct techniques: papermaking with pine pulp and mycelium, and crafting substrates from industrial hemp fiber. Work was conducted in both the Wearable Senses Lab and Biolab at TU/e, with the objective of intertwining expertise from bio- and digital fabrication with practice-led design knowledge. The resulting structures are not only dynamic and biodegradable, but also able to regenerate growth: the dried tessellations, once sterilized, rehydrated, and re-incubated, continued to produce hyphae that strengthen and expand the original structure. The findings not only laid a foundation for continued research in grown tessellations that use sustainable, bio-based materials, but also provided a working model for how interdisciplinary work has the potential to produce novel artifacts and knowledge.
The outcomes of the research visit resulted in a joint publication, as well as a strengthening of ties between Aalto and TU/e鈥攖wo likeminded universities with a focus on innovation through interdisciplinary collaboration.
This work has been done with the support of Jane and Aatos Erkko foundation.
Many products of the packaging industry are made of plastic and other fossil-based materials. The Aalto University Bioinnovation Center is developing ecological packaging solutions based on origami folding which also have value as beautiful objects.
To achieve human wellbeing in planetary boundaries, we need new sustainable solutions to wisely use our natural resources. The Bioinnovation Center especially focuses on innovations in sustainable bio-based materials, with special focus on textiles and packaging.
