Kanil Dias Abeyagunawardene is a maker, designer and entrepreneur with a current focus on seaweed as a versatile and sustainable resource in product design and making. His exploration with seaweed looks to use it as a composite material specifically in paper-based production, by applying improvised methodology. His goal is to convert seaweed as a base biomaterial in composites that can be used to create everyday objects and products that can be easily integrated into users’ lives, while allowing for the methodology to become open source; particularly for communities involved in seaweed ecosystems as an affordable and easily adoptable process.
 

Mary Abisha is a seaweed cultivator from Valaippadu who works alongside her family in seaweed farming as their primary livelihood. Through years of experience, she has gained first-hand knowledge in the large-scale growing, harvesting, processing, and distribution of seaweed. She is interested in seeing seaweed used in the production of food products and confectionery through seaweed-derived materials such as agar and carrageenan. Abisha hopes these developments will create greater opportunities for local communities engaged in the industry
 

Shahdia Jamaldeen is an architect and artist specializing in modular structures, design-based solutions and creative documentation. Her work explores how explorative material knowledge can translate into meaningful spatial experiences, moving beyond visuals to become an active, integrated part of architecture and design. She is particularly drawn to seaweed and its processed forms, investigating their potential in everyday applications, from architectural elements and functional textiles to sculptural formations. Through hands-on testing of their material properties, she seeks practical ways through design thinking to embed seaweed-based solutions into daily life.
 

Sanali Jayalath comes from a background in biomaterial research, with hands-on experience in bacterial fermentation, PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates) production, and waste valorization, transforming biomass waste into valuable bioplastics. Her research background was guided and inspired by Sr. Professor Ajith de Alwis, an expert in sustainable process engineering and circular economy solutions. She sees science as a fundamentally creative practice, where rigor and imagination work as one. Her work explores biofilms, bioleather biopolymer research, environmentally responsible downstream processes, and biodegradable plastic material innovation. She is especially interested in exploring seaweed as a renewable resource for biopolymer production, including the use of seaweed hydrolysates for PHA-producing bacteria. Her approach also focuses on closed-loop systems that turn waste into worth valorizing residues, reducing extraction pressure, and replacing extractive logic with circular regeneration. Sanali is deeply fascinated  by nature’s intelligence, microbial, ecological, and evolutionary systems, and how humanity can learn from these processes to restore and repair environmental damage created by them. She is particularly motivated to contribute toward addressing two urgent global environmental challenges: plastic pollution and climate change, while exploring how seaweed-based systems may help mitigate them to some extent. She is also interested in the long-term carbon sequestration potential of seaweed, where the movement of seaweed-derived biomass into deep ocean systems can contribute to stable, long-lasting carbon storage.

T. Krishnapriya is a visual artist born and raised in Jaffna, surrounded by rich traditions, textures, and visual culture that naturally shaped her artistic sensibilities from a young age. Her practice explores processes such as drawing, staining, soaking, pressing, and imprinting, reflecting her interest in how materials can carry traces of memory, place, and lived experience. Deeply drawn to natural pigments, Krishnapriya is particularly interested in extracting colour from seaweed and experimenting with how these pigments can be integrated into her artistic practice. Through the workshop, she hopes to further explore the possibilities of transforming seaweed into fibre while learning more about sustainable pigment extraction from practitioners working closely with the material.
 

Sivaram Kulendran is a biotechnologist, agribusiness professional, and pioneer of seaweed aquaculture in Sri Lanka working at the intersection of sustainability, blue economy innovation, and community development. With over 15 years of experience in agribusiness, export development, and sustainable aquaculture, he has led multiple seaweed farming and value-addition initiatives across Sri Lanka in collaboration with government institutions, NGOs, and coastal communities. He is independent consultant of several ventures focused on seaweed cultivation, seaweed value added products, sustainable livelihoods, and marine bioresource innovation. His work explores the potential of seaweed in food systems, biomaterials, agriculture, climate resilience, and circular economy applications. Sivaram has represented Sri Lanka at international seaweed & agriculture forums and is passionate about developing scalable, community-centered blue economy solutions for the future.

Sanjai Madushanth  is a landscape architecture graduate whose work engages with the intersection of ecological systems, community practices, and material innovation, with a particular focus on vulnerable coastal environments. Grounded in observations from Valaipadu, a coastal village in northern Sri Lanka, his research identifies a critical gap between short-term, production-driven livelihoods and the broader understanding of dynamic coastal ecologies, resulting in recurring exposure to climate-related risks. Moving beyond conventional “defensive” strategies such as hard infrastructural barriers, his approach advocates for a shift toward adaptive landscape systems that work with, rather than against, natural processes. Within the Bio Design Lab framework, he seeks to explore how bio-based materials such as seaweed can be integrated into a multi-scalar design methodology, linking territorial resilience with localized material production. His contribution aims to reinterpret coastal resources as active agents in shaping socio-ecological resilience, bridging macro-scale landscape strategies with micro-scale material experimentation to propose a more responsive and regenerative model for living coastal systems.

Anushka Shinde is a product designer from India who works across living materials, visual culture, publication, play, and provocation. She is particularly interested in how biodesign can become democratic, memorable, and open new possibilities. Her practice centers on biomaterial experimentation, translating and revealing the hidden potential of materials by developing products from scratch. She enjoys working at the intersection of disciplines as it provides a macro perspective to the ecosystem. Anushka is especially drawn to seaweed as a material, applying her knowledge directly through accessories, wearable products, and visual translations that bring the material’s qualities into compelling, tangible forms.

Tashini Vithanage is a Sri Lankan marine biotechnologist who has been transforming seaweed into high-value, sustainable solutions through her marine innovation company TESHVO BIOTECH. Tashini is an experienced researcher specializing in several species of seaweed, with a strong focus on value addition across four key sectors: food, plastics, fertilizers, and cosmetics. She approaches seaweed as a dynamic and transformative material, exploring its potential as fibre, gel, texture, surface, and residue. Driven by a passion for innovation, Tashini aims to elevate Sri Lanka onto the international stage through groundbreaking inventions derived from seaweed.

Sanjani Wijekoon is a service designer and systems thinker with a deep curiosity about how value, power, and resources flow through communities, not just through products.Though she is particularly passionate about seaweed cultivation communities, her focus lies in understanding the entire ecosystem: from cultivation and harvesting to the demand and supply chains that shape them. She explores ways to strengthen local livelihoods, support small industries, and ensure that the communities who grow and harvest seaweed are the ones who benefit most from it. Guided by a strong ethical lens, Sanjani believes in meeting growing demand for seaweed while actively preventing exploitation of both people and natural resources. Her work aims to create fairer, more regenerative systems where economic opportunity and community wellbeing grow together.

Gayumi Wijewardana is a product and industrial designer who explores the vast potential of seaweed as a sustainable material through rigorous testing, modular thinking, and hands-on prototyping. Fascinated by the journey from careful observation to practical application, she conducts small-scale experiments focused on form, attachment, drying, and cultivation. Her work extends beyond bioplastics into natural dyeing, sustainable packaging, seaweed-based composites to replace fiberglass in marine structures, and the development of seaweed-derived threads for textiles and fabrics. Through iterative experimentation, she transforms abundant ocean resources into functional, everyday materials, creating regenerative and environmentally responsible design solutions.