KojiGotchi is a speculative wearable exploring the ethics of care and co-dependence between humans and microorganisms. Designed as a living artifact housing Aspergillus oryzae (koji)–a fungus central to Asian fermentation traditions–the device relies on the wearer’s body heat to sustain life. In return, the user becomes an active host, establishing a demo-version of a reciprocal relationship of care, in which neglect or attention directly determines both the functionality of the device and the organism’s fate.
The project began with a speculative vision: a garment that could change its structure–becoming porous and breathable in heat, then closing its own micro-perforations to form a watertight barrier in cold or wet conditions. To approach this, I developed textile-embedded mycelium composites using liquid surface static fermentation, where the fabric acts as both scaffold and nutrient reservoir, enabling localised self-healing through controlled regrowth.
Scentopia explores how technology might reconnect us emotionally in an age defined by disconnection. As scientific lead, I worked with a team of four multidisciplinary designers to develop nos–a speculative wearable that augments human olfaction to sense others’ emotions through multimodal cues, including visual feedback.
iGEM is an annual competition in synthetic biology. The participants are invited to develop a full-fledged project from scratch in under nine months. In 2022 the team of Leiden, under my guidance, created a biological platform for the production of nanoparticles for a cancer therapy. Throughout our project, we attracted the main focus on the accessibility of science communication, for which we received several awards.
Biomineralised bacterial cellulose is a novel bio-based material that has been developed at the Bionanoscience department at the TU Delft. Its elegant three-step production process utilises three different bacterial strains to create a tough material that is similar to ABS (Think: Lego). The primary bottlenecks in its application are its consistency and water-absorbing properties. I dedicated my thesis to explore ways in which these two aspects could be mitigated.
The innovation challenge aimed at developing a demonstration model that would showcase the principles of Industry 4.0 – a conceptual framework for the biotechnological factories of the future. For this purpose my team built an autonomous Arduino-powered and smartphone-operated lemonade machine.
This project was a critical exploration into democratizing ecological research using iNaturalist, a global citizen science platform where the public records and identifies biodiversity through community-verified submissions. We asked: How accurately can collective citizen knowledge map the natural world compared to decades of official government science?
This project was an investigation into the mechanics of commercial success, challenging the idea that a “hit song” is defined only by luck or instinct. We developed a machine learning framework using objective audio features (like danceability and energy) to answer: Can a song’s chart success be predicted from its sonic blueprint?
TERTIUS COLLECTION is an Amsterdam gallery, which propagates the philosophy of cross-collecting. Their curation showcases arts and crafts across centuries and styles: from Dutch old masters to Dalí furniture. As part of their team, I was tasked with creating a tangible and recognisable identity, as well as a series of websites, for this eclectic collection.
Solarpunk Manifesto is a podcast on radical hope and imagination, where we invite leading thinkers, artists, and activists to collectively explore alternative futures. Our reality resembles too closely the dystopian worlds that cyberpunk has been warning us about since the 80s. Alarmist and (post)apocalyptic narratives predominate popular media. While we must continue to shed light on the violence and injustices of our world, it cannot be at the cost of our hope for better futures.
As part of my Honours Programme, I participated in the newly formed Awareness & Culture track. The main objective of this track is to improve the ability of engineers to appreciate the context of the problem they are trying to solve from a more socially-aware perspective. The participants were offered a unique opportunity to reflect on how their personal and professional aspirations can be placed in a societal context.
Started as an endeavour of a romantic nature, the photographic medium offered me a space to experiment with space, colour, and meaning. As it progressed, the connection between the initial photograph and the final edit became less evident, with more emotion channelled through the retouching process. My biggest joy is the endless space for experimentation.
