From Costume Designer to Biodesigner: A Seaweed Symphony Played By Jenna Handley

Jenna Handley, a 26-year-old MA Biodesign student at Central Saint Martins, juggles a demanding commute with a burning passion for sustainability. Hailing from Cornwall, Handley wakes at 5:00 am to catch a plane or train to London, arriving at the art school just in time for classes. After a full day of classes ending at 6:00 pm, Handley reverses the commute, returning home by midnight. 

Growing up amidst the beaches and woods of Cornwall, Handley developed a deep connection with the environment. "I've always had this really strong connection with the natural world and the awareness of how it needs to be protected," she says. Witnessing the impact of tourism on her hometown's pristine coastline further fueled her desire for change.

Despite this passion, Handley's initial foray into design came through a Bachelor's degree in Costume Design at Wimbledon College of Arts. "I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I knew I liked textiles and making clothes, but I didn't feel I was using my brain much," she reflects. This led her to delve into natural history and marine biology in her spare time. "Spirals in Time" by Helen Scales is one of Handley's favorite books, and it introduced her to the world of biomaterials. "It mentioned a fabric called sea silk, which comes from seashells in Italy," she explains.

The seeds of Biodesign were sown during her final year. For a costume based on a 1920s interpretation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Handley sought an alternative to the environmentally harmful plastic sequins typically used. Her solution? Inspired by a talk about making seaweed sequins at university, she thought of bioplastics made from corn flour, vinegar, and distilled water. "I'd mix the ingredients, heat them up, add food coloring, and let them dry on baking paper," she explains. "The water evaporated, cracking into unique, organic sequin shapes," she highlights, "The design for the sequins themselves was led by the materiality itself. The shape of the sequins happened organically."

This project was a turning point, bridging the gap between her love for design and her growing concern for the environment.

Following graduation, Handley entered the film and TV costume industry. While the experience offered valuable insights, it also exposed the dark side of fast fashion. "It felt morally challenging," she admits, "buying large quantities of costumes from brands like Primark and H&M, knowing many might never be used." 

After filming, she also had to wrap the costumes. "You might sell some off. You might donate some to charity, or some of it just goes in storage and sits there for years and years. So it's really a waste," she adds. The mountains of discarded costumes further solidified her desire for change.

Biodesign: A Marriage of Science and Art

This realization led her to Central Saint Martins' MA Biodesign program, a two-year, part-time course combining science and creativity. "Biodesign sits in this transdisciplinary space between two traditionally very different worlds, thus opening up a whole new world of opportunities, one which designs with and for biology and living systems," Handley explains. Students from diverse backgrounds, including design and psychology, come together to learn fundamental scientific principles through lab work and lectures. In their first year, some basic scientific knowledge would be taught through experiments like DNA extractions, data collection, and color pigments.  

Students are encouraged to create anything as their final outcome, "People in the past have done all sorts of things, like tattooing from bacterial pigment, making food from electronic waste and 3D printing with biomaterials," Handley further elaborates. 

Biodesign means something more to Handley. "It represents the deconstruction of societies' long-established boundaries between textiles (a traditionally female-dominated world) and science (a predominantly male space). This is materialized through the biofabrics and personified through these hybrid 'scientific artisans' or designers," she adds. 

Harnessing the Power of Seaweed

Now, Handley is focusing on her final project – creating fabrics from Cornish seaweed for the fashion and textile industries. Living around seaweeds all the time, she knows how seaweed offers numerous benefits to nature as a renewable resource. Its fast growth rate helps absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Harvesting and cultivating seaweed supports marine biodiversity by providing shelter for various organisms. Biodegradability is another crucial aspect. Unlike synthetic fabrics like polyester that linger in landfills for millennia, seaweed textiles decompose naturally, leaving no harmful residues.

So, how does the magic happen? Handley extracts Sodium alginate from seaweed, transforming it into yarns through wet spinning. These yarns are then crosslinked with a calcium carbonate bath for solidification. Weaving or knitting techniques are then employed to create the desired fabric. She finds inspiration for this final step in heritage crafts, which she views as a form of biodesign itself. "These crafts often incorporate living systems, like natural dyes, into fabrics," she explains, "making them far less harmful to the environment."

Her dream? A 100% Cornish seaweed-based fabric, bursting with vibrant colors.

Currently, Handley is researching various Cornish seaweed types, their local connection to the ocean, and the sodium alginate extraction process. In addition to her research work, she has done some experiments in the Grow Lab at school, which allows Biodesign students to create and test their products. "I've extracted Sodium Alginate from the seaweed and done the crosslinking," she adds. 

Despite the promising results, Handley acknowledges the significant hurdle of transforming seaweed into a genuinely functional fabric. "The biggest challenge," she confesses, "is achieving industry standards for what a fabric needs to be. Right now, the material has a bit of a jelly-like consistency." However, this obstacle doesn't deter her. Handley embraces the open-ended nature of the design process. "I'm excited to see where this takes me," she says, "both in terms of the process itself and the final purpose of the fabric." Her long-term goal is to create a series of seaweed textile samples suitable for product development.

This "girl from the sea" remains dedicated to harnessing seaweed's potential. Her biodesign journey has just begun, and she envisions a future where she can contribute to Cornwall's sustainability. "It'd be amazing if I could have my startup in Cornwall, working with local communities creating seaweed fabrics or dyes," she determines. 

Biodesign is a burgeoning field that is constantly evolving. With pioneers like Jenna Handley leading the way, its potential to address environmental concerns through creative design solutions is undeniable.