Reference: BRUNATO011
Title: Bio Iridescent Sequin
Date: NA
Author: Elissa Brunato
Details: The Bio Iridescent Sequin is a lightweight, compostable and iridescent embroidery
component, designed as a sustainable alternative to the petroleum-based plastic sequins
that are used in the Textile and Fashion Industry. Made from renewable cellulose, the Bio
Iridescent Sequin gives rise to natural shimmering colours which are nontoxic, colourfast
and pigment free.
Media: Material
Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Description: Inspired by the way colourful beetle and butterfly wings shimmer iridescently and
nevertheless are a part of naturally occurring biological lifecycles, these sequins gives rise
to their colourful effects by means of their inherent microscopic cellulosic structure. Light
hitting this structure is reflected into vibrant, glittering colours, a phenomenon also known
as ‘structural colouration’.

Reference: BRUNATO012
Title: Float
Date: NA
Author: Elissa Brunato
Details: Perfectly flat glass has become a lifestyle standard. Produced globally uniform 24/7, 365 days a
year, the glass industry feeds its worldwide market, while steadily consuming silica sand.
Individual online interviews conducted with experts around sand and glass are collated into a
virtual conversation that discusses the necessity to regulate the extraction and use of these
materials.
Media: Installation
Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Description: Perfectly flat glass dominates the appearance of our urban landscapes today. Designed to
be almost invisible, it nevertheless lends the city its face of prestige and economic wealth.
The technique to produce evenly thick glass by ‘floating’ a batch of molten sand on top of a liquid
tin bath was developed in the 1960’s. Today, It has taken over almost all the flat glass production
worldwide, creating an extremely uniform industry and consequential lifestyle. In a hypnotising
velocity, a specific size range of relatively pure silica sand grains are transformed into a perfectly
flat and smooth ribbon of glass, 24/7, 365 days a year. Unstoppable for 15 years per production
line, the industry keeps on extending to feed the speculative consumption of a globally growing
market.

In the process of researching this global industry, Christoph Dichmann and Elissa Brunato were
fascinated by the contrast between the standardised procedures of the production and the
apparent lack of official guidelines around the extraction and use of the non-renewable resource
sand. Float discusses the need to regulate the use of these materials, presenting interviews with experts
across industries related to sand who speak about the use of glass and its wider social and
geological impacts. Highlighting the complexities of a globally local system, this curated
conversation seeks to explore the future dealings with float glass and its core ingredient, sand.

In the installation ‘Float’, Elissa Brunato (Material Futures, Central Saint Martins) and Christoph
Dichmann (Design Academy Eindhoven) lay out their investigation into the parameters of today’s
flat glass industry, discussing the need to regulate our increasing demand for the nonrenewable
resource sand. The discussion points are collated from expert interviews conducted across the
industry and question the wider complexities of these materials’ use and their social, economic,
and environmental role.

Reference: BRUNATO013
Title: Pipe Anatomy
Date: NA
Author: Elissa Brunato
Details: London’s once-revolutionary water supply system is now outdated in its rigidity and inability to move with the city. The Victorian-era infrastructure was built to serve a population of four million
— not today’s 8.7 million, or the additional two million expected by 2050. The old pipes buckle
and break with ground movement and pressure, while seasonal temperature changes expand and
compress joints, causing them to burst.
Media: Material
Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Description: What if water pipes could mimic nature’s self-sustaining systems and respond to the
dynamic environment of the city?

During their research, Elissa Brunato and Christoph Dichmann learned that one-quarter of water
leaks from the crumbling infrastructure before it even reaches people’s homes. Each week, on average 1,300 pipes are repaired — a costly process that involves manually locating leaks and digging up the roads. Around 600 million litres of drinkable water is lost per day — that’s enough to meet the needs of 20 million people.

Rather than thinking about pipes as static 3D objects, the duo are suggesting the use of intelligent
materials that can respond and react to the surrounding environmental pressures over time. They envision pipes whose design embeds the fourth dimension — time — to counteract deterioration and allow pipes to better cope with the dynamic environment of the city. When we consider time, we require new materiality. So they visually explored what this might look like — to prompt a mindset shift, and challenge engineers and construction experts to rethink the properties of pipes.

‘Water losses through leakage are a huge problem,’ Dr van Halem a collaborator from TuDeft,
agrees. ‘The organic, flexible pipe network inspires us to re-think the rigid and conventional water
distribution network we rely on today.’

Reference: BRUNATO002
Title: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
Date: 2002
Author: William McDonough and Michael Braungart
Details: A manifesto detailing how to achieve the Cradle to Cradle Design model. The text calls for a radical change in industry: a switch from a cradle-to-grave pattern to a cradle-to-cradle pattern. It suggests that the "reduce reuse recycle" methods perpetuate this cradle-to-grave strategy, and that more changes need to be made.
Media: Publication
Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_to_Cradle:_Remaking_the_Way_We_Make_Things

Description: This was the first book that made me reflect upon nature and the human experience. William raises the point that “in the end, the question is not, how do we use nature to serve our interests? It's how can we use humans to serve nature's interest?’ I had never thought to question what I had been taught as a teenager and I welcomed this flip of perspective into my life. The book’s teachings are still incredibly ahead of its time. It made me see that nature is our greatest teacher, if only we listen, observe and create harmony with it.

Reference: BRUNATO003
Title: Large Paper and Maker
Date: NA
Author: NA
Details: NA
Media: Stationary
Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Description: Taking notes in a note book is an amazing way to capture data, however I love the large paper format for letting out creative thoughts. It allows me to run wild with ideas, thoughts and expressions. Here I feel free and fearless. Sketching becomes an energetic play and I lose my perfectionist qualities for that moment in time.

Reference: BRUNATO001
Title: The Buprestidae Beetle
Date: NA
Author: NA
Details: Buprestidae is a family of beetles known as jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles because of their glossy iridescent colours.
Media: Beetle
Credit: wikipedia.org/Buprestidae

Description: A key artefact that has inspired my project, Bio Iridescent Sequin, is the Buprestidae beetle (also known as Jewel beetle), for its interesting material qualities and also its historic attachment to fashion. The wings were traditionally used to embellish textiles in South America and Southeast Asia. Western traders in India introduced these textiles to Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. By the 1860s beetle wings were being imported to Britain in volumes - the attractive shimmering surfaces of the wings became highly prized among women's dress and were attached onto cloth, hats and jewellery to transform pieces into alluring status symbols.

I love that something as simple as a beetle wing achieved such desirability due to their non-replicable shimmering qualities. It is amazing to see how humans have such a historic attraction to shimmer and natural beauty.

Reference: BRUNATO005
Title: Microscope
Date: NA
Author: NA
Details: A laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye.
Media: Tool
Credit: wikipedia.org/Microscope

Description: It is incredible to look through a microscope at the natural world. To me, the intricate architecture of nature looks so much like the details of embroidery work. I find calm in knowing that there is more to the world than what I see through my eyes. It makes me feel grounded and part of an ecosystem. The better our microscopic tools get, the more we will learn and discover of the world.

Reference: BRUNATO006
Title: Microscope
Date: 2017
Author: Levon Biss
Details: From Microsculpture, Portraits of Insects
Credit: jamesturrell.com/withinwithout

Description: I love how Levon Biss reveals more than we can see with our naked eye. The camera definition and his use of lighting reveal a mysterious and magical world of insects. I feel that his works brings out the beauty and wonder of the world around us and I am inspired to carry this lens in all the work that I do.

Reference: BRUNATO004
Title: Large Post-it-Notes
Date: 1968
Author: , Dr. Spencer Silver, 3M
Details: A small piece of paper with a re-adherable strip of glue on its back, made for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces.
Media: Post-it Note
Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-it_Note

Description: Post-its have the ability to capture my rapid thoughts and mind mapping becomes a calming process for my brain. I love the fact that nothing becomes static and you can pull them away, adjust the hierarchy and rearrange streams of thoughts based on new denominators.

Reference: BRUNATO007
Title: "Within Without" Skyspace
Date: 2010
Author: James Turrell
Details: From the National Gallery of Australia.
Credit: jamesturrell.com/withinwithout

Description: My work is inherently inspired by moving image and how light can dynamically change a space - I love to look at how colours shift, shadows move and patterns emerge. Whenever I create an image or an exhibition, I think back to the power of the outdoor James Turrell’s sculpture in my hometown, Canberra, Australia. As a teenager we would lay under the Skyspace gap in the ceiling with friends and watch the colours of the sky, abstracted from its surrounding. The sculpture became a chamber to perceive the sky differently, exploring colour interaction, and I loved this invitation of perspective.