The scope of human inventions, whether gleefully hedonistic or seemingly sustainable, struggles to cut across the extractive systems that are now normative. Even as forests, valleys and free-flowing rivers manage to sustain a harmonious existence, sans harm, sans wastefulness and sans mindless extraction, humans, as co-inhabitants on Earth, fail to derive pronounced inspiration from their counterparts beyond aesthetic provisions. While recent efforts by various climate activists have led to the formulation of important laws and creative innovations configured to encourage and sustain sustainable design, a majority of such examples—upon deeper examination—turn out to be instances of incessant greenwashing. Hence, some reductive conceptions and initiatives directed towards creating a symbiotic environment within urban locales have become a necessity.

A recently introduced concept, Symbiocene, attempts to address the persistent disregard for natural entities in the Anthropocene era. Symbiocene is a term that was coined by the environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht in 2011, through which he attempts to argue that human civilisation must enter a new era characterised by harmonious interactions between humans and other sentient beings. In this speculative future, entities will exist in a state such that each living being benefits from the other. Each organism’s (including human beings) cycles and processes of existing, too, will align with the other.

Gaining inspiration from this concept, London-based furniture and lighting designer Peter Nasielski crafted an ecosystem of living artwork, entitled Symbiocene. The living bioactive furniture collection, which comprises the ‘Proterozoic Portal,’ ‘Bioactive Table’ and ‘Symbio-Screen,’ attempts to explore life in the Symbiocene era, albeit, on a scale concerning an individual and their homes. The American designer’s vision recalibrates the function of home furniture—from mere objects built through extractive models to entities that are not only crafted from reclaimed materials but are also designed to produce usable oxygen and proteins. “Symbiocene imagines a regenerative and bio-inclusive future for society. Natural systems and processes like photosynthesis represent the planet's most advanced technologies developed through 3.7 billion years of evolution. The future symbiosis between humans and photosynthetic microalgae presents a novel pathway to decarbonise our atmosphere,” Nasielski shares.

Nasielski’s furniture design takes on the role of fostering symbiotic relationships between individuals and photosynthetic microalgae, by leveraging the carbon-capturing properties of Spirulina, an edible species of cyanobacteria. Each of the three furniture pieces functions as a photobioreactor, a device for growing algae. This algae is utilised to generate a source of fresh oxygen and edible, vegan protein directly in the home. “Engaging with the algae in daily life expands an individual's Ecological Awareness, fostering symbiotic relationships between individuals and photosynthetic microalgae,” Nasielski asserts. By integrating symbiotic systems in a furniture collection, Nasielski hopes to inspire conversations around more such provisions, wherein we can integrate these processes into objects of diurnal usage.

In order to further understand the furniture designer’s vision for Symbiocene, STIR established a dialogue with Nasielski.

Almas Sadique: How did you begin working on Symbiocene? What was the initial inspiration?

Peter Nasielski: Symbiocene, Living Furniture is a conceptual furniture collection which explores a possible regenerative future for our society. The concept originated with my deep admiration for the power of living systems to support other living systems. All of life depends on the technology of photosynthesis by which living cells convert energy and matter using only sunlight. This energy supports multiple ecological tiers of lifeforms, each in turn nourishing other lifeforms. If human society was modelled upon the self-perpetuating abundance of natural ecosystems, our world would look radically different.

My aim was to imagine and create artefacts from this symbiotic world, a possible future that philosopher Glenn Albrecht suggests could be the next period of Earth’s History, an Epoch he names The Symbiocene. In nature, every living system creates energy and food. In the Symbiocene, our homes and cities must become productive environments as well. I imagined symbiotic furniture from this era as a partnership between humans and Spirulina microalgae, one of the planet’s oldest and most efficient photosynthetic organisms (aquatic cyanobacteria like Spirulina capture carbon at more than 50x the rate of terrestrial plants). Early experiments with cultivating spirulina at home inspired me to imagine ways in which our homes could become microfarms nourishing us and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere.

Almas: How did you visualise the design of Symbiocene? Tell us about the process: from imagining the forms of the various pieces to putting them into production.

Peter: To develop the design for Symbiocene, I drew inspiration from the intricate fractal geometries of algae cells viewed under the microscope. The micro world Spirulina inhabits is full of diverse yet simple geometric lifeforms which I celebrate through the cellular forms of each algae panel silhouette. I wanted the pieces not only to function as microalgae farms but also to communicate visually the active process of photosynthesis which the algae are constantly performing. I designed the flowing algae channels to illustrate the flow of carbon and oxygen through each of the billions of algae cells living within. The layout of these flowing algae rivers was generated using parametric design tools to fill the maximum surface area of each panel and thus maximise the algae’s access to sunlight and rate of photosynthesis.

Almas: What is the equipment used to develop the Symbiocene pieces?

Peter: Symbiocene was digitally fabricated using CNC machining. To create the digital design, I used the Rhinoceros to model my desired shapes. For the tabletop, I used Grasshopper parametric design tools to “grow” an optimal algae flow path to fill the maximum area within the shapes I designed. The prototypes and final pieces were made from reclaimed waste materials (Plexiglass signage, iMac bolts, scrap aluminium and steel) recovered through the circular material hub run by Renée Materials, a local London zero-waste enterprise. The designs were informed by the available waste materials I had access to and were carefully scaled to make efficient use of the recovered materials. I worked with various metalworking tools to shape and bend the scrap metal to create furniture legs. All the elements were assembled using bolts scavenged from discarded iMac security stands.

Almas: How is Spirulina (used in the design) captured from nature to be used here?

Peter: Spirulina is farmed commercially around the world, usually in large outdoor ponds. I sourced my initial spirulina culture from a commercial grower and began cultivating it at home. Spirulina is extremely easy to grow. It only needs water, simple salts (primarily sea salt and baking soda) for nutrition and exposure to sunlight. The trick is that all the millions of cells in a culture need even exposure to light, but cells near the surface usually block out all light from reaching those below. If you’re growing at home you can give the culture a shake twice daily or circulate the algae using a solar pump. My designs for Symbiocene use solar pumps to circulate the spirulina over a wider area to increase sun exposure accelerating photosynthesis and growth. This is the same strategy employed on large-scale algae farms where Spirulina is circulated in raceway ponds or large networks of transparent tubes. The liquid growth medium that the Spirulina lives within is highly alkaline and thus inhospitable to other organisms. This is beneficial for home growers since it prevents the algae culture from becoming contaminated by other species of algae.

Almas: How is the movement of the liquid within Symbiocene triggered?

Peter: The pumps which move the liquid algae are solar-powered and thus automatically shut down at night while the algae enters its cell division phase, growing and multiplying. When sunlight returns, the pump circulates the algae so each of the millions of cells can access the light needed for photosynthesis. This movement thus accelerates the algae’s growth and release of oxygen. The pump is a custom-designed peristaltic pump which simultaneously moves liquid algae and air through silicon tubes and into the algae panels. These spirulina bioreactors are not closed systems, the solar pumps constantly “inhale” stale air from within the home. The Spirulina then absorbs the CO2 from this air and “exhales” oxygen. This constant mixing of air is beneficial to the spirulina and enables it to grow quickly, doubling the population every 3-5 days. Up to 50% of the spirulina culture can be harvested once a week or smaller harvests of 5% can be done every day.

Almas: How can the vegan protein produced by the algae be used?

Peter: The Spirulina is easy to harvest, each photobioreactor has a small nozzle to drain the liquid algae culture. Passing the liquid culture through a filter or sieve effectively separates the solid algae biomass. This biomass is rich in nutrients, particularly protein, iron, and Vitamin B. It can be consumed either as a beverage or cooked into food as a nutrition supplement. Spirulina was a major food source for the Aztec civilisation. Alternatively, the harvested spirulina can be used as fertiliser/food for houseplants or used as a pigment to make ink or natural dyes.

Almas: How is Symbiocene beneficial to people and nature?

Peter: The project imagines a future where our homes and cities are productive rather than destructive environments, human dwellings that simultaneously provide habitat for many species to thrive. I believe the goal of design should be to support the mutual flourishing of all life, designing only for humans has brought society to the brink of collapse. Symbiocene provides a window to this possible future where humans live symbiotically within natural systems, all of our industries and cities improving conditions for other lifeforms. My designs for bioactive furniture illustrate this possible future, enabling a novel symbiotic relationship between humans and spirulina. Humans provide the spirulina with optimal habitat and the spirulina capture CO2 and provide oxygen. This symbiotic arrangement can supply a constant protein source directly within the home whilst simultaneously oxygenating stale air in our homes and buildings.

Almas: What are the practical usages of a system such as Symbiocene?

Peter: The key goal of Symbiocene is an experiment to demonstrate the radical shifts in mindset that will be required to transition our society from an extractive to a regenerative paradigm. Conventional furniture is produced on an extractive model that damages ecosystems and creates emissions and waste. Symbiocene is made from reclaimed materials from local waste streams and actively produces food and removes CO2 from the air, helping to restore urban ecosystems.

The main practical benefit is the constant supply of vegan protein available for harvest. Spirulina is a popular dietary supplement and has been extensively researched by NASA as a possible food source for space missions. Symbiocene is a proof of concept and initial vision for a world in which human dwellings produce food and oxygen rather than only consuming these vital resources.

Almas: How does one dispose of the material used to make Symbiocene, once it stops serving the purpose it is designed to serve?

Peter: Symbiocene is designed to be made from extremely common and recyclable materials: glass, silicone, and aluminium. In the speculative future of the Symbiocene, humanity has fully embraced the circular material economy meaning all materials are reused or repurposed and there is no waste. For these prototype pieces I worked with reclaimed materials (plexiglass signage, iMac bolts, scrap aluminium and steel) which were destined for landfill, these materials are fully recyclable and can be remade into other products in the future.

Almas: What are you currently working on, and what's NEXT for you?

Peter: I’m currently working with the Sustainability team at Stella McCartney, supporting material innovation, responsible sourcing, and regenerative farming initiatives. Stella has long been a thought leader in sustainable fashion and it’s been fantastic to support projects advancing low-impact and regenerative materials. I am also developing a carbon-negative ink to be made from the Spirulina grown within my bioreactors. I plan to use this ink to create carbon-negative artwork through block printing. Later this year, I hope to contribute to a research project with the University of Cambridge aimed at developing algae-powered biophotovoltaic solar panels.