‘Exploring and integrating novel perspectives to our everyday through the eyes of fungi.’
Wasabii is a researcher within the Biobased Art and Design research group.
Wasabii is a design researcher and practitioner. She graduated with a First Class Honours BA in Textile Design at Chelsea College of Arts, London, and holds an MA in Information Experience Design from the Royal College of Art, London.
Her research proposes an alternative approach to design, in which the human body and its movements play a central role in how we engage with the world. Wasabii argues that human understanding about the world and interaction with it is not reducible to algorithms, but instead occurs through active participation of a user whose actions are not predictable through patterns. She details this argument with theoretical approaches which reposition the non-programmable user at the centre of a communication network.
In her projects Wasabii materialises this approach through what she calls ‘objects in between’. They are objects without a predetermined use but acting as connectors within a larger network in which the agency of the user functions as a form of personal empowerment. Her work has been internationally exhibited and she runs workshops for educational purposes. More recently, she has been inducted into the field of biomaterials specialising in mycelium where she ran two projects Cuddly Fungi and Another bite of the cherry in the Material Incubator in Den Bosch.
Out Of Tune: Living With Cacophony
This research project investigates the visual, auditive, and tactile qualities of mycelium.
Research Group: Biobased Art and Design
The research group Biobased Art and Design capitalises on the role of artistic practice in unlocking the unique potentials of living organisms for everyday materials and communicating these to a broader public. In doing so, the group aims to instigate and accelerate our widespread understanding, further development and usage of such materials. The group’s research approach encourages tangible interactions with the living organisms, such as algae, fungi, plants and bacteria, to explore and understand their unique qualities and constraints through diverse technical and creative methods taking artists, designers and scientists as equal and active partners in the material creation.
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‘The dynamic relationship between humans and living artefacts will continue to evolve reciprocally with mutual care.’
Elvin Karana 
‘In my work the concept of time is a recurring theme.’
Xandra van der Eijk
‘It is through the “not-knowing” that a stimulating and caring environment can be created to confidently share vulnerability.’
Risk Hazekamp
‘Bacteria, Fungi, Humans, all part of the same experiment.’
Ward Groutars
‘The pleasure of working in the [MI] lab is that microbiological research is carried out from two different approaches.’
John van der Werf
‘I’m interested in how we can implement situated learning within design education.’
Sarah Lugthart
‘The ultimate goal is to enable people to improve their lives, making them more enjoyable and comfortable.’
Simone van den Broek
‘I am eager to explore how unique qualities of ‘living materials’ can transform the way we think, feel and act.’
Hazal Ertürkan