Complex Pringles: Microbially sculpted mineral forms

Complex Pringles explores the mineral dimension of human composition, where life and microbial forces co-shape material form. In this project, double-curved geometries are extracted from the exhibition architecture and reimagined through 3D-printed frames stretched with fabric, echoing the tactility of fabric-cast concrete. The biomineralisation process is catalysed by Sporosarcina pasteurii, a bacterium that actively precipitates calcium carbonate, solidifying saturated sand over the course of a week.

Each artefact emerges from a negotiation of precision and emergence, balancing the desired form’s narrow centre with the weight of the sand and the metabolic activity of bacteria. This process demands fine-tuned control, catalysing reactants, managing microbial viability, and responding to the shifting interplay between geometry and mineralisation. Complex Pringles challenges the authorship of design, and celebrates the negotiation between control and emergence, geometry and biological unruliness.