Created as part of designer Jeongwon Ji’s final year project at the Royal College of Art in London, BioElectric seeks to examine and challenge the archetypal materials of electronics.
“Industrial processes have streamlined manufactured products, but what if we allow new materials to be expressive and tactile?” asked Ji.
Rather than conforming to the norm and using materials such as plastic to case electronics, Ji has instead looked towards using a locally sourced and unwanted material in the form of shells of the invasive Chinese Mitten Crab.
To create the bioplastic, Ji extracted Chitin polymers by crushing the shells then mixed it with water and glycerine. Despite the production of the bioplastic being longer than conventional plastic, Ji says the non-toxic process has the potential to improve the working conditions of those who manufacture electronics.
As to showcase the crab shell-derived bioplastic, an alarm clock, humidifier, computer trackpad, torch and WiFi router was encased.
