Biodesigning urban futures
As part of the CYCLE UP! project, the Goethe-Institut has teamed up with the Haenke initiative to present a series of workshops focused on urban ecology. The third workshop in the series is dedicated to biodesign.
The workshop is free to attend for all, but registration is required: link
The language of the workshop is Czech.
A handbag made of turmeric, furniture crafted from Japanese knotweed, a coffin grown from mycelium, a mug formed from coffee grounds. In recent years, nature-based materials have proliferated at an unprecedented pace and are often presented as solutions that will free us from dependence on fossil fuels. Yet the growing interest in ecological materials is frequently accompanied by a striking lack of transparency, concerning where these materials come from, how they are produced, their social implications, and what happens to them once they become waste. Sustainability is thus reduced to surface-level criteria that leave untouched the extractive logic of the system itself, as well as our underlying relationship to nature.
But what if we approached plants not as resources, but as partners in alternative ways of thinking and making? Can new materials enable us to create with care and empathy for other forms of life, without reproducing the very mechanisms that have led us into the current crisis?
For many, biodesign may appear as an inaccessible field, one that seems to require years of expertise, technical skill, and refined aesthetic judgment. This workshop challenges that assumption, showing that fully biodegradable, plant-based materials can also be created in domestic settings, provided one has the right ingredients and understands the process.
The workshop will be led by designer Adam Kvaček and curator and researcher Saša Střelcová (Haenke). In the practical part, participants will create small everyday objects and explore how new materials can be democratized through the making of functional items from entirely natural, compostable substances. The workshop will address questions of sustainability, material experimentation, and the aesthetics of ecological care, demonstrating that new materials need not remain the preserve of design studios or industry, but can become an accessible and shared part of everyday urban life.
BIO
Adam Kvaček is a Prague-based designer and a graduate of UMPRUM. His practice operates at the intersection of ecology, botany, material research, and speculative design, and is most often communicated through installations, workshops, and objects, frequently in combination with other media. His recent project Paradox of Isoëtes has attracted international attention at Dutch Design Week, Alcova Miami, and Designblok Prague. Over the course of his career, he has also participated in Milan Design Week and Brussels Design September, and collaborated with institutions such as the Czech Centre New York, the Franz Kafka Society, the Czech National Museum, and the Beautiful Work project.
The workshop is free to attend for all, but registration is required: link
The language of the workshop is Czech.
A handbag made of turmeric, furniture crafted from Japanese knotweed, a coffin grown from mycelium, a mug formed from coffee grounds. In recent years, nature-based materials have proliferated at an unprecedented pace and are often presented as solutions that will free us from dependence on fossil fuels. Yet the growing interest in ecological materials is frequently accompanied by a striking lack of transparency, concerning where these materials come from, how they are produced, their social implications, and what happens to them once they become waste. Sustainability is thus reduced to surface-level criteria that leave untouched the extractive logic of the system itself, as well as our underlying relationship to nature.
But what if we approached plants not as resources, but as partners in alternative ways of thinking and making? Can new materials enable us to create with care and empathy for other forms of life, without reproducing the very mechanisms that have led us into the current crisis?
For many, biodesign may appear as an inaccessible field, one that seems to require years of expertise, technical skill, and refined aesthetic judgment. This workshop challenges that assumption, showing that fully biodegradable, plant-based materials can also be created in domestic settings, provided one has the right ingredients and understands the process.
The workshop will be led by designer Adam Kvaček and curator and researcher Saša Střelcová (Haenke). In the practical part, participants will create small everyday objects and explore how new materials can be democratized through the making of functional items from entirely natural, compostable substances. The workshop will address questions of sustainability, material experimentation, and the aesthetics of ecological care, demonstrating that new materials need not remain the preserve of design studios or industry, but can become an accessible and shared part of everyday urban life.
BIO
Adam Kvaček is a Prague-based designer and a graduate of UMPRUM. His practice operates at the intersection of ecology, botany, material research, and speculative design, and is most often communicated through installations, workshops, and objects, frequently in combination with other media. His recent project Paradox of Isoëtes has attracted international attention at Dutch Design Week, Alcova Miami, and Designblok Prague. Over the course of his career, he has also participated in Milan Design Week and Brussels Design September, and collaborated with institutions such as the Czech Centre New York, the Franz Kafka Society, the Czech National Museum, and the Beautiful Work project.