Cladophora
Malu Lücking
Bachelor Graduation Project within the framework of Greenlab Project GreenDesign 8.0; Circular City – Mapping Berlin`s Material Streams
Supervision: Prof. Dr. Zane Berzina, Prof. Susanne Schwarz-Raacke,
Prof Barbara Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Lucy Norris,
Essi Johanna Glomb, Julia Wolf
Cooperation partner:
Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology, Inland Fisheries (IGB)
Awards:
3rd prize, Changemaker Challenge Germany 2019
winner of the 2019 Dorothy Waxman International Textile Design Prize
Can the increasing growth of algae be used for material development?
One of the main factors contributing to the ecological imbalance of fresh water and of saltwater systems is the textile industry because of its wasteful and careless use of water resources. But now resulting out of this water crisis a solution appears: Cladophora is a filamentous alga growing in abundance because of human activity. This project harvests the fibrous algae from Berlin lakes and utilises their different qualities to produce textiles. Its wool-like haptic coupled with a lighter wearing comfort allows Cladophora to be processed into translucent non-woven fabric or to be woven as yarn into a surface. When it is of inferior quality, it can be processed into a biodegradable bioplastic which could, in the future, replace PVC for raincoats or bags.