Interwoven Cultures
A cross-disciplinary project by Mari Koppanen and Estelle Bourdet, merging bacterial cellulose and weaving traditions.
Interwoven Cultures (2025) - Pink bacterial cellulose in lab tray
Thick, shiny, and bright magenta, the folded mass resting on a white tray resembles an organic form more than a material sample. Its surface reflects the overhead lights of the sterile laboratory, clumping together with a texture reminiscent of gelatin, plastic, and raw skin. It’s an unusual and compelling object — the result of the work of bacteria.
Bacterial cellulose emerges through fermentation, as microbial cultures of bacteria and yeast gradually form a thin film on the surface of a nutrient-rich liquid. Over several days, this film thickens into a flexible, skin-like sheet. Subtle variations in temperature, acidity, and growing conditions shape each batch. After being harvested and dried, the result is a semi-translucent, flexible sheet.
This cultivated, shape-shifting substance is the starting point of Interwoven Cultures, a collaboration between designer and researcher Mari Koppanen and textile artist and weaver Estelle Bourdet. The project brings bacterial cellulose into dialogue with Nordic weaving traditions, opening a conversation between microbial life and ancestral craft, between emerging materials and time-honoured techniques.
The two designers come from distinct but complementary practices. Mari Koppanen, based in Finland and pursuing a PhD in Artistic Research at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, works with biomaterials developed through fermentation and fungal systems. With a background in clothing and furniture design, her approach merges scientific process, material ethics, and critical design. She sees living organisms not as raw material, but as co-creators in a shared process of making.
Interwoven Cultures (2025) - Close-up of various dyed bacterial cellulose samples.
Once the cellulose is grown and prepared, it becomes part of a collaborative process with Estelle Bourdet, whose work is rooted in Nordic handweaving, particularly rag rug traditions. Bourdet lives and works between Sweden and Switzerland and is known for her use of local, upcycled materials and plant-based dyes. Her practice explores the emotional and sensory qualities of domestic space, often reinterpreting utilitarian objects through slow, intentional craft.
Her studio — defined by looms, natural fibres, and rhythmic repetition — contrasts sharply with the clinical environment in which the cellulose originates. It’s in this tactile, time-honoured space that the material finds new context. Working closely, Koppanen and Bourdet experiment with integrating the microbial sheet into woven structures, approaching it as an active presence in the design process rather than something to control.
Rather than forcing the cellulose to behave like traditional fabric, the designers embrace its irregularities — warping, tearing, and translucency — treating them as expressive features rather than flaws. In some pieces, the material is stretched between threads; in others, it is layered and gently supported by fibre structures. The weaving doesn't mask the material’s biological origin — it highlights it.
The name Interwoven Cultures reflects the dual narrative at the heart of the project. On one hand, it refers to microbial cultures — the living systems that produce cellulose. On the other, it speaks to cultural heritage — the gestures and techniques passed through generations of weavers. Both are slow processes. Both require care, time, and repetition.
Interwoven Cultures (2025) - Mari Koppanen & Estelle Bourdet
Importantly, the collaboration does not aim for seamless fusion. Their process respects differences rather than erasing them, allowing each element to retain its identity within a larger conversation.
Interwoven Cultures is not a speculative design proposal or an attempt at product innovation. It's a material exploration, grounded in observation and attentiveness. The cellulose is not presented as a replacement for leather or plastic. It is treated as a distinct material with its own potential — one that invites curiosity rather than promising commercial scalability. Each piece is unique, shaped by time, place, and material behaviour. The process embraces variability and uncertainty, reframing them as integral qualities rather than problems to solve.
The material itself demands a shift in approach. Bacterial cellulose is responsive to moisture, light, and movement. It changes as it dries and continues to evolve over time. Rather than offering predictability, it asks designers to listen, adapt, and make decisions based not on control but on sensitivity to the material’s behaviour.
Interwoven Cultures (2025) - Detail view of a woven structure where microbial cellulose
This repositioning of material — from resource to co-agent — lies at the heart of the project. Rather than treating microbial life as a novelty or a tool, Interwoven Cultures gives it the same level of consideration and respect as traditional handcraft. It suggests that collaboration in design can extend beyond disciplines, even beyond species.
By bringing together bacterial cellulose and Nordic weaving techniques, Koppanen and Bourdet show that innovation doesn't need to erase tradition. It can emerge through intentional combinations of what is inherited and what is grown. The project is neither nostalgic nor speculative. It exists in between — a space of experimentation anchored in process.
Initially unfamiliar and slightly unsettling in the context of a lab, the folded pink sheet becomes part of a textile language shaped by time, touch, and trust. It is not transformed into something else, but rather welcomed on its own terms — as a material that holds its history, process, and potential.
Interwoven Cultures (2025) - Woven samples combining bacterial cellulose with traditional fibres
Info
Mari Koppanen
Designer & researcher
marikoppanen.com
Estelle Bourdet
Textile artist & weaver
estellebourdet.com
Photography
Troels Rosenkrantz
Words
Nina Zulian