feature
November 22, 2024
Written by: Mike R. Winder
Photos by Juan Posada

SEAWEED STORIES OFFERS HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

DOCUMENTARY SCREENING AND A PANEL OF BIOMATERIALS EXPERTS PROVIDE A THOUGHT-PROVOKING GLIMPSE INTO THE BURGEONING SEAWEED RENAISSANCE 

As a planet, we may be entering our seaweed era.

New Scientist recently ran a speculative “Future Chronicles” column titled “Could Seaweed be the Ultimate Carbon Capture Solution?” that imagined a future in which seaweed plays a starring role in removing carbon from the atmosphere in the 2030s. And over the past year, The New York Times, Nature and Fast Company have all run stories on how scientists, environmentalists and major corporations are reimagining seaweed as everything from a biofuel to a plastic alternative to a dietary supplement for cows that can drastically reduce their methane emissions.

Earlier this week, ArtCenter College of Design held an event at its Ahmanson Auditorium titled “Unwrapping the Future: Designing for a Sustainable Tomorrow.” The evening included an exclusive screening of Seaweed Stories, a new 30-minute documentary, narrated by Forest Whitaker and executive produced by ArtCenter Trustee and Trousdale Ventures founder and CEO Phillip Sarofim. The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring several experts in biomaterials, innovation and sustainable design.

Presented by Lonely Whale, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing ocean plastic waste, and in association with conservation organization Re:wild, Seaweed Stories explores the potential planet-saving properties of seaweed and revolves around a fascinating cast of characters whose work and lives have become entangled with the often overlooked marine organism, including members of the Indigenous Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, who are using seaweed to prove their sovereign right to coastal land, and a scientist in South Korea trying to breed a new climate change-resilient species of seaweed. 

In her introduction of the film, Emy Kane, executive director and founding member of Lonely Whale, discussed her organization’s dedication to radical collaboration and how Seaweed Stories was born from this philosophy. 

“The fashion industry alone uses 180 billion plastic poly bags every single year, and this material is nearly impossible to recycle—it accounts for just under half of all new plastic waste that enters the ocean every year,” said Kane, who went on to explain that Lonely Whale teamed up with fashion house Tom Ford to launch the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize, a global competition focused on creating scalable and biologically degradable alternatives to traditional thin-film plastic polybags. “In 2023, we awarded three winners: Sway, Zerocircle and Notpla. By happenstance, each were harnessing the power of seaweed to create their alternative materials.” This synchronicity, Kane explained, prompted Lonely Whale to explore the world of seaweed innovation. Seaweed Stories grew out of that exploration.

After the film, Jieon Choi, a student ambassador for the College’s Engineering for One Planet grant-funded Sustainability Curriculum Project, led a lively and thought-provoking panel discussion. The panelists included Jake Sumner, director of Seaweed Stories; Julia Marsh, the CEO and co-founder of Sway, a Silicon Valley material innovation startup scaling seaweed-based, home-compostable packaging, and who was also featured in the film; Kristine Upesleja, an associate professor of Product Design at ArtCenter who teaches Wearables: Material Futures and the founder and manager of the Innovative Textiles and Materials Department at FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising; and ArtCenter alum Margaux Reynolds (BS 19), a senior design strategist at BMW Group Designworks, who works at the intersection of human innovation and the natural world.

Choi began the discussion by asking Sumner what it was like to make a film in which seaweed is the main star. “[Seaweed] is this unexpected thing that I hadn’t really considered and I was just really curious about its different applications," said Sumner. "It’s so colorful, and it’s fun to look at and it’s this thing, when you start to pay attention to it, [that’s] kind of amazing. So I thought the challenge of the film was: let’s make seaweed the hero of the film. But really, it’s a film about people and the people involved with it. I stepped into this. I knew nothing about it. So to me, it’s about the people whose world is seaweed.”

“I’m excited to see these developments, and I just want to mention my icon, I call her the mother of all grown materials: Suzanne Lee,” said Upesleja, later in the discussion, referring to the designer and biofabrication pioneer. “She already started this 20 years ago. I came across her project called BioCouture, and she used cellulose, bacteria, sugar yeast and tea to grow materials and created these really beautiful, and unfortunately nonwearable garments. But now, here we are, 20 years later, and people like you, Julia, and other companies have come a long, long way. We are not there yet, but there’s hope and I’m really excited to see what’s next.”

Choi asked the panelists to describe some of the biggest challenges they’re facing. “One interesting thing [about] working in strategic foresight is looking at emerging consumer expectations and behavior,” answered Reynolds. “When you look at something like seaweed or bacteria, and for me, working for and with BMW—premium luxury—you look at something like a biomaterial … how do you get our consumers to embrace biomaterials and new aesthetics? We’re facing that right now. We’re looking at bacterial cellulose. That’s something we’re exploring for our materials in some of our programs … We look at leather and we’re trying to make bioleather. Why? Why don’t we make something that’s completely different? It doesn’t have to look like leather. It doesn’t have to imitate anything. But we have to get over that hump that people have to see something they know before they’re willing to embrace something that’s completely different.”

Later in the discussion, Choi asked the panelists how, given political realities, a seaweed economy could create a sustainable future. “I love the idea that we can bake goodness into everyday materials,” answered Marsh. “You have the benefit of knowing that a material was responsibly sourced and produced and manufactured. So that when the shopper receives the package, [they] have already done something good. You [the shopper] are empowered by that. It wasn’t your choice. You just wanted to buy a shirt from your favorite retailer, but the goodness is baked into the material. And I love the convenience of material that has that foresight. How you introduce people to environmental or social change is by just baking it in. They didn’t need to do anything out of their way. [It becomes] a learning moment. And all of a sudden you’ve converted someone to say, ‘Oh, actually, it feels good to care for the environment.’”

Watch the entire panel discussion below.