On the Habitabilities of Bacterial Cellulose for Living Artefacts

Bacterial cellulose (BC), also known as a Kombucha mat or SCOBY, is a grown material widely adopted in design and HCI communities due to its biodegradability, accessibility and mechanical versatility. Alongside these aspects, BC’s qualities to become a habitat for other living organisms, i.e., its habitabilities, have been researched in biotechnological sciences but not fully explored in design. In response to the call for biobased material alternatives and the expanding design space for multispecies interactions in HCI, in this paper, we unpack this habitability potential of BC in the design of living artefacts. Through visual storytelling we unveil our hands-on biolab journey with Komagataeibacter, the bacteria that produce BC, and show how fungi, microalgae and cyanobacteria can inhabit this material. We outline diverse options for tuning the habitabilities of BC to incite HCI designers in the creation of living artefacts that are fully grown and compatible with regenerative ecologies.