2025, Sea glass casted at MAKE Eindhoven, steel structures showcased at Open Studios, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht NL

Developed during a residency at the Jan van Eyck Academie with the support of the future materials bank, this project was realized in collaboration with CHILL Laboratory at Brightlands Chemelot Campus.

The glass membrane of microalgae reveals a remarkable natural architecture. Perforated with nanopores at the scale of visible light, it interacts with light by slowing, concentrating, and filtering radiation to support photosynthesis. These nanostructures also produce subtle iridescent colors through wavelength interference, demonstrating how material structure can actively shape the behavior and perception of light. Inspired by this principle, the work reimagines glass not as a perfectly clear and flat surface, but as a textured, living material that reveals its own formation.

Traditional glass, by contrast, has reached a technological peak: transmitting up to 96% of incoming light and concealing all traces of its making. Its near invisibility allows humans to observe nature from a position of safety, control, and distance. Windows act as frames, capturing landscapes as images for contemplation while shielding the body from direct contact with the outside. Glass thus carries a dual capacity to contain and to exhibit. Its growing presence in our built environment reflects broader cultural tendencies toward individualism, seclusion, and the display of self.

This glass deliberately breaks with this logic. By revealing surface irregularities, it allows light to interact with the material itself rather than pass through an absent medium. These textures echo the nanostructures of algae, which manipulate light for survival, transforming illumination into a tangible, perceptible phenomenon. Light becomes an active participant in the experience of the material, shaping perception while revealing the process of creation. The surface patterns were generated through computational design methods, allowing controlled translation of biological structural principles into material texture.

In doing so, the work proposes not only a new way of making glass but also a new sensorial relationship with it—one that acknowledges materiality instead of erasing it, and invites a more embodied awareness of how we inhabit, perceive, and relate to the natural world.