For a coexistence with the more-than-human: making biomaterials from a philosophical perspective.

This paper discusses the domain of do-it-yourself (DIY) biomaterials applied to design, by analysing aims, speculative value and aesthetics emerging from this encounter. From a transdisciplinary perspective, the convergence of post-anthropocentric philosophies with systematic experiments in two different laboratories, located in Italy and China, demonstrates how design practices can contribute to new forms of human–nature relationships, highlighting a pluriverse way to understand life. Because of the dual approach of philosophical theories and hands-on experiments, biomaterials become tangible tools which change the very idea of “designed objects”: they assign to artefacts circular, living, and integrated properties, thereby placing them within the notion of an ecosystem. Nevertheless, beyond bio-based properties, the three most interesting qualities emerging from this theoretical–practical study are (1) 1:1 scale of production, (2) organic-formless aesthetic, and (3) multi species coexistence. We argue that through such a model of bioproduction, the designer can assume the role of catalyst for a post-anthropocentric vision, dismantling the feeling of separation, alterity, and not-belonging between the human and the nonhuman, between objects and organisms.