Suzanne Lee: Grown, not Extracted

“You know, you walk through a forest. Every leaf on every tree is unique. And that's what biology does. We are all unique, right? Everything about us that biology does, it's so magical. It's so special. And we now have the ability to harness biology in the way that nature does.” – Suzanne Lee

Suzanne Lee is the founder of Biofabricate and for more than two decades she’s been uniting scientists, designers, artists, and dreamers to prove that biology isn’t just inspiration — it’s the next frontier of design. She’s leading a movement to replace plastics, leather, and petrochemicals with materials born from life itself — brewed, cultivated, and created in harmony with nature.

I just spent a few days in London at Biofabricate’s Biofab Fair, a celebration of biology-based technologies and the innovators behind them. These weren’t the usual alternatives to leather or plastic. Imagine a world where textiles aren’t manufactured from fossil fuels, animal skins, or even plants — but grown from microbes, mycelium, algae, and engineered proteins.

There were fabrics brewed in vats, colors grown by living microbes, perfumes made with the DNA of extinct flowers, and leather-like sheets made from banana waste and mycelium. Each innovation not only reimagines what we wear and use, but also reshapes how we think about design, beauty, and even culture.

After the fair, Suzanne and I sat down to debrief — to talk about how far this movement has come, what’s next for biofabrication, and how growing the materials of the future might just change everything. 

Links: 

Biofab Fair Website  https://www.biofab.world/

Biofabricate Website   https://www.biofabricate.co/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/biofabricate/

Materials and brands mentioned in episode:

Ephea  https://ephea.bio/

Polybion https://www.polybion.bio/

Uncaged Innovations:  https://uncagedinnovations.com/

Spyber:  https://spiber.inc/en

Holon Bionics https://holonbionics.com/

Banofee https://www.banofileather.com/

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