Kombucha is known as a fermented tea drink, but can its symbiotic knowledge guide us to new creations?
Kombucha is made by combining tea leaves with a colony of sugar-fed bacteria and yeast, which slowly ferment to create a microbe-filled drink. The colony of bacteria and yeast, called a scoby, is the symbiotic source of the fermentation. During this project, a collaboration was formed with the characteristics of the microbes. By researching their growth and habitat, while nourishing and luring them to more life. Once the bacteria had formed a firm layer on top of the liquid, the material was ready to be harvested and dried.
The collaboration with the material brought an understanding of human interaction with natural life processes. The microbes creating the tissue cannot be controlled -their growth can only happen by tempting them to new life. By providing them with the right conditions and feeding them sugar, you can stimulate optimal growth. But just when you think you have the production under control, it is disrupted by other life forms (mostly fungi in my case!) starting to colonise the culture.
The time the fermentation holds by its growth becomes the basis of the material knowledge- and collectivity.