Faber Futures

Emerging at the intersection of design and biology, Faber Futures believes that biology is the next technological frontier, and from this, our material world will be written in DNA. The lab was founded by the materials designer Natsai Audrey Chieza – a pioneer in the development of biopigment dyes for textiles – with a mission to explore the complex implications of a simple question: ‘What if we could harness the inherent intelligence of nature to make things with living systems?’

Working across sectors and disciplines, Faber Futures applies contemporary design thinking to life science technologies like synthetic biology, exploring and enabling compelling biodesign futures. Through its global network of biotech labs and collaborators, Faber Futures draws on the biofabrication possibilities presented by organisms such as bacteria, fungi and algae to develop new materials, strategies and applications across a spectrum of industries – from fashion to viticulture. By mimicking, co-creating with and engineering living systems, Faber Futures works to generate effective, scalable frameworks to the evermore pressing challenges of resource scarcity, climate change and sustainability.