Ideas change everything

Grow your own clothes

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Suzanne Lee |

TED2011

• March 2011

Designer Suzanne Lee shares her experiments in growing a kombucha-based material that can be used like fabric or vegetable leather to make clothing. The process is fascinating, the results are beautiful (though there's still one minor drawback ...) and the potential is simply stunning.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Designer Suzanne Lee shares her experiments in growing a kombucha-based material that can be used like fabric or vegetable leather to make clothing. The process is fascinating, the results are beautiful (though there's still one minor drawback ...) and the potential is simply stunning.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.

About the speaker

Designer, biofabrication pioneer

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TED Fellow Suzanne Lee is a fashion designer turned biofabrication pioneer who is nurturing a global community of innovators growing materials.

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What might our clothes look like in 50 years?

For Suzanne Lee, the answer lies far beyond the traditional borders of fashion design. Might we really wear a bustier made of bacteria? Lee makes her case.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.