So as a fashion designer, I've always tended to think of materials something like this, or this, or maybe this. But then I met a biologist, and now I think of materials like this -- green tea, sugar, a few microbes and a little time. I'm essentially using a kombucha recipe, which is a symbiotic mix of bacteria, yeasts and other micro-organisms, whichspin cellulose in a fermentation process. Over time, these tiny threads form in the liquid into layers and produce a mat on the surface.

作为一名时装设计师，我习惯于考虑用某些材料，比如这个或者这种或者这种。但当我和一位生物学家谈过，现在我开始考虑这样的材料--绿茶，糖，一些细菌加上一点时间。我基本上用的是红茶菌配方：它是一个细菌，真菌和其他一些微生物的共生混合物。在它们发酵时， 能纺出纤维素。时间一长，这些纤细的纤维能在液体中形成纤维层，最后在液体表面形成一块垫子。

So we start by brewing the tea. I brew up to about 30 liters of tea at a time, and then while it's still hot, add a couple of kilos of sugar. We stir this in until it's completely dissolved and then pour it into a growth bath. We need to check that the temperature has cooled to below 30 degrees C. And then we're ready to add the living organism, and along with that, some acetic acid. And once you get this process going, you can actually recycle your previous fermented liquid. We need to maintain an optimum temperature for the growth. And I use a heat mat to sit the bath on and a thermostat to regulate it. And actually, in hot weather, I can just grow it outside. So this is my mini fabric farm.

我们从煮茶开始，我每次煮差不多三十公升的茶，当茶还热的时候，加入几公斤糖。我们搅拌糖直到它完全的溶解。然后把茶倒入一个生长池中，我们需要确认温度，降到摄氏三十度以下，接着加入活的微生物，同时加入一些醋酸。其实一旦你开始这个发酵工程你就可以回收使用从前发酵过的液体，我们需要维持一个最适宜生长的温度，我在池子下面垫了一张电热毯，再用一个恒温器来调节电热毯的温度。其实，在天热的时候，我能在室外培养。这就是我的迷你布料农场。

After about three days, the bubbles will appear on the surface of the liquid. So this is telling us that the fermentation is in full swing. And the bacteria are feeding on the sugar nutrients in the liquid. So they're spinning these tiny nano fibers of pure cellulose. And they're sticking together, forming layers and giving us a sheeton the surface. After about two to three weeks, we're looking at something which is about an inch in thickness. So the bath on the left is after fivedays, and on the right, after 10. And this is a static culture. You don't have to do anything to it; you just literally watch it grow. It doesn't need light.

大约三天后，液体表面出现气泡。这就是在告诉我们发酵过程已经全速运转了。液体中的糖分给细菌生长的养分，它们开始纺出极纤细的纳米纤维，是极纯的纤维素，这些纤维互相粘合，形成纤维层。最终在液体表面展示给我们一大片纤维布。大约两到三周后，我们能看到一英寸厚的纤维毯，左边的池子是发酵了五天的，右边的是十天后的。这都是静态培养，你不需要做任何事，就看它长就好了，这也不需要光线。

And when it's ready to harvest, you take it out of the bath and you wash it in cold, soapy water. At this point, it'sreally heavy. It's over 90 percent water, so we need to let that evaporate. So I spread it out onto a wooden sheet. Again, you can do that outside and just let it dry in the air. And as it's drying, it's compressing, so what you'releft with, depending on the recipe, is something that's either like a really light-weight, transparent paper, or something which is much more like a flexible vegetable leather. And then you can either cut that out and sew it conventionally, or you can use the wet material to form it around a three-dimensional shape. And as it evaporates, it will knit itself together,forming seams.

当到采收的时候，你把纤维毯从池子中拿出来，在冷的肥皂水里洗洗。这时纤维毯是很重的，九成都是水份，我们需要把水份蒸发出来。所以我把纤维毯铺在一块木板上，同样地，你可以把它晾在户外，在空气中风干就好了。当纤维毯风干时，它会缩水，所以你可能得到的结果是根据你用的配方，或者是非常轻的透明的纸张或者是弹性十足的像植物皮一样的东西。 你可以用它照惯例缝纫剪裁或者用湿的材料包在三维的物体外面塑形。当材料风干的时候它自己会粘连，缝合在一起。

So the color in this jacket is coming purely from green tea. I guess it also looks a little bit like human skin,which intrigues me. Since it's organic, I'm really keen to try and minimize the addition of any chemicals. I can make it change color without using dye by a process of iron oxidation. Using fruit and vegetable staining, create organic patterning. And using indigo, make it anti-microbial. And in fact, cotton would take up to 18 dips in indigo to achieve a color this dark. And because of thesuper-absorbency of this kind of cellulose, it just takes one, and a reallyshort one at that.

这件夹克的颜色就是绿茶的颜色。我觉得它看起来有点像人皮做的，让我很有兴趣。既然这是有机材料，我试图少加化学物质进来，我能不通过燃料而改变它的颜色，而是用铁氧化的方式。或者用水果和蔬菜的色素做出有机图样，或者使用靛蓝使它抗菌。事实上，棉织品要在靛蓝中染十八次才能染成这个颜色，因为这个纤维素的材料吸收力特强，只要快速染一次就够了。

What I can't yet do is make it water-resistant. So if I was to walk outside in the rain wearing this dress today, I would immediately start to absorb huge amounts of water. The dress would get really heavy, and eventually the seams would probably fall apart --leaving me feeling rather naked. Possibly a good performance piece, but definitely not ideal for everyday wear. What I'm looking for is a way to give the material the qualities that I need. So what I want to do is say to a future bug, "Spin me a thread. Align it in this direction. Make it hydrophobic. And while you're at it, just form it around this 3D shape."

我没做成功的是让它防水。如果我穿今天的这件夹克在雨里走走， 我会马上开始吸水，很多很多水份，这件衣服会变得很重，最后全开线--让我觉得露太多。可能它会有很好的表演效果，但是绝对不适合日常的衣着。 我现在在找一个办法,让这个材料有我想要的质量。我想和未来的细菌说“给我一条线，让它和我一起解决这些问题。让它防水同时让它绕着这个三维物体塑形”。

Bacterial cellulose is actually already being used for wound healing, and possibly in the future for biocompatible blood vessels, possiblyeven replacement bone tissue. But with synthetic biology, we can actually imagine engineering this bacterium to produce something that gives us the quality, quantity and shape of material that wedesire. Obviously, as a designer, that's really exciting because then I start to think, wow, we could actually imagine growing consumable products.

细菌纤维素已经被用在愈合伤口上，在未来很可能会被用来做成生物兼容性的血管组织，可能还会被用来替换骨组织。跟合成生物学一起，我们能想象设计这些细菌来做出我们需要的 有品质，有重量，有形状的材料。显然作为一名设计师，这是很令人兴奋的，因为我开始想，哇，我们可以想象种出可消耗品。

What excites me about using microbes is their efficiency. So we only grow what we need. There's no waste. And in fact,we could make it from a waste stream -- so for example, a waste sugar stream from a food processing plant. Finally, at the end of use, we could biodegradeit naturally along with your vegetable peelings. What I'm not suggesting is that microbialcellulose is going to be a replacement for cotton, leather or other textile materials. But I do think it could be quite a smart and sustainable addition toour increasingly precious natural resources.

微生物学让我兴奋的是它的高效率。我们能只种我们需要的，那就不会有浪费。事实上，我们可以用废水来种衣服--比如说从食物加工场出来的废的糖水。最后，在用完后，我们还可以和你的瓜果菜皮一起自然地把它们降解。我并不是说要用微生物的纤维素来代替棉花、皮革或者其他的纺织品。但我相信对现今日趋珍贵的自然资源来说，它会是一个非常巧妙和持续性的辅助物。

Ultimately, maybe it won't even be fashion where we see these microbes have their impact. We could, for example, imagine growing a lamp, a chair, a car or maybe even a house. So I guess what my question to you is: in the future, what would you choose to grow?

最终，可能不止是在时尚界，我们能看到这些微生物大展宏图。我们可以，比如说，想象用它来种一盏灯、种一把椅子、一辆车或者是一幢房子。我想我给大家的问题是：未来，你会选择种什么？

文中生词：

Kombucha：红茶菌a beverage produced by fermenting sweet tea with a culture of yeast and bacteria

Recipe：处方，配方，食谱a set of instructions for preparing a particular dish, including a list of the ingredients required

Yeast：酵母a microscopic fungusconsisting of single oval cells that reproduce by budding, and are capable of converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide

Cellulose：纤维素；（植物的）细胞膜质an insoluble substance that is the main constituent of plant cell walls and of vegetable fibers such as cotton. It is a polysaccharideconsisting of chains of glucose monomers；

Fermentation：发酵作用the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms, typically involvingeffervescence and the giving off of heat

Optimum：最佳效果；最适宜条件the most favorable conditions or level for growth, reproduction, or success

Thermostat：恒温器a device that automatically regulates temperature, orthat activates a device when the temperature reaches a certain point.

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