Design with the Living 2019

Dr Brenda Parker is a Lecturer in Sustainable Bioprocess Design at the Department of Biochemical Engineering, UCL and Co-Director of Bio-Integrated Design / Bio-ID. Her doctoral work is in directed enzyme evolution for green chemistry and her postdoctoral studies led her to working on microalgal biorefineries.

Prof Marcos Cruz is an Architect and Professor of Innovative Environments at The Bartlett and Co-Director of Bio-ID. His current research investigates design that is driven by advances in materials, bio-technology and computation, fields that are radically reshaping the practice of architecture.

Prof Carole Collet has dedicated her career to developing a new vision for sustainable design and pioneered the discipline of Textile Futures in 2000. She is the CSM LVMH Director of Sustainable Innovation at Central Saint Martins UAL, as well as Director of the Design & Living Systems Lab, a programme exploring the interface of the biological sciences and design.

Helene Steiner is a designer and engineer who works at the interface between technology and science. She co-founded Open Cell with the mission to provide affordable lab space to early stage startups innovating at the intersection of design and biology.

Natsai Audrey Chieza is a designer, change-maker, and TED speaker working at the intersection of creative and biotechnology industries. She is Founder and Director of Faber Futures, a London-based biodesign lab that is catalysing the alignment of DNA-scale engineering with the methods and principles of critical design thinking for the circular economy.

Nina Jotanovic is an architect undertaking a PhD research at The Bartlett School of Architecture and The Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering at UCL. Her research is focused on directing the growth of thin, but microscopically three-dimensional, lustrous materials of biogenic origin. She is currently a design tutor at the Bio-Integrated Design programme - Bio-ID.

Martyn Dade-Robertson is the Professor or Emergent Technology and Co-Director of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment. Martyn holds degrees in Architecture and Computing from Cambridge University and BA in Architectural Design and MSc in Synthetic Biology from Newcastle University. Martyn is the editor of a new book series on Bio Design with Routledge. His book, the first in the series, Biological Construction will be published early 2020.

Elvin Karana explores the productive shifts and creative tensions between materials science and artistic practice in her material-driven design work. She leads the “Material Incubator,” a creative research lab that aims at designing materials that incorporate living organisms and exploring their potential in fostering an alternative notion of the everyday.

Marcus Walker is a member of the Tom Ellis Lab at Imperial College London, a team of scientists working across engineering and biology to advance synthetic genomics and synthetic biology He is currently completing a PHD in Synthetic Biology Bio-Engineering at Imperial College.

Nancy Diniz is an architect, and Course Leader MA Biodesign at Central Saint Martins, UAL. She is also partner of Augmented Architectures based in New York. In her practice she develops emergent sustainable materials with a focus on biomaterials and computational design within a matrix of data collection and environmental performance criteria.

Thomas Meany is co-founder/director at OpenCell.bio. Previously a Wellcome Trust Fellow in Biotechnology at Cambridge University. He developed quantum technologies during Marie Curie Fellowship in Toshiba's Cambridge Research Lab. His PhD was in laser-written quantum-circuits in the Ultrahigh bandwidth Centre, Australia.

Justin McGuirk is the chief curator at the Design Museum. He has been the head of Design Curating and Writing at the Design Academy Eindhoven, director of Strelka Press, the design critic of The Guardian, and the editor of Icon magazine. He is the author of Radical Cities, published by Verso.

Discover the most innovative designs across fashion, architecture, digital, transport, product and graphic design from the past 12 months, as nominated by design experts from around the world.