Jiwei Zhou

Subject of presentation

For thousands of years, plants have been cultivated and used as material sources by humans, resulting in a well-established repertoire of techniques and tools. Nevertheless, despite the familiarity of the organism for humans, plants and plant parts have been less explored in bio-design, compared to other organisms. Roots do not passively grow, but move and observe. Their movements allow them to better search for food and space to live in. They adapt intelligently to their environment. In this presentation we dive into what the qualities and potentials of plant roots are for product design.

Concise resume

Jiwei Zhou is a designer and researcher, focusing on materials experience. Since 2017 see has been researching and designing with new materials, such as biodegradable clay from tea waste (The Tea Recipes, 2017), voxel-based digital materials (Programmable Cracking, 2019) and plant roots (Interwoven, in collaboration with Diana Scherer, 2019) to unlock new material properties and experiences.