Rethinking the Fabrication of Interactive Devices Through Biomaterials: Towards New Paradigms of Making and Materiality in HCI

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has increasingly turned to biodegradable or bio-based materials as a response to ecological concerns. They are often used to replicate the functions of synthetic counterparts, leaving dominant fabrication paradigms unquestioned. This limits the field's ability to engage with the temporal and responsive qualities of biomaterials. My research explores how biomaterials, both bio-based (bioplastics) and living (bacterial cellulose), can transform not only what interactive systems are made of, but also how they are designed, fabricated, and understood. By leveraging their physical, temporal, and ecological properties, I propose new workflows and develop fabrication frameworks that place material transformation at the center of interaction design, reframing making as a temporal, co-constitutive practice. This shift invites new computational imaginaries, where material transformation itself, through growth, decay, or regeneration, becomes a channel for sensing, actuation, or control.