Symbiocene

28 February 2025 /

The countdown to spring parallels our transition from the Anthropocene to the Symbiocene. Right now, we're living in what scientists call the Anthropocene, a geological era marked by significant human impact on Earth's systems - from climate change to resource consumption.

The Symbiocene represents a hopeful next chapter, much like spring's promise of renewal. Instead of working against nature, imagine a future where we live in harmony with it. This is what Peter Nasielski, interdisciplinary artist and designer, explores through his furniture collection.

His pieces offer a tangible response by introducing functional furniture that bridges environmental science and everyday design - they're living examples of how we can blend our daily lives with nature.

Each furniture piece, made from repurposed materials, contains photobioreactors, small-scale algae farms where spirulina grows. Just as spring brings flourishing plant life that improves our environment, spirulina improves air quality through carbon capture, produces oxygen for us to breathe, and provides a source of protein-rich food that can be harvested at home. His furniture lets us experience co-living with living things, demonstrating a way of integrating natural processes into our daily lives. Nasielski's work shows how our homes could actively participate in ecological cycles rather than just existing as passive spaces.

To develop Symbiocene furniture collection, Peter 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.”

Proterozoic Portal This luminescent green portal serves as a metaphorical window into the Proterozoic Eon, where cyanobacteria like the Spirulina within first began to transform Earth's atmosphere through oxygen production. These microscopic pioneers were fundamental to life's evolution, and even today, algae continue to generate approximately 70% of the oxygen we breathe - a process that intensifies during spring.

Bioactive Table This innovative table functions as an artificial coral, a living architectural platform that nurtures and supports the growth of photosynthetic microalgae, blurring the boundaries between design, biology, and ecological interaction.

Symbio-Screen Symbio-Screen emerges as a living sculpture that envisions a potential future where humans coexist symbiotically with carbon-consuming cyanobacteria, reimagining our built environments as dynamic, breathing ecosystems.

This collection helps us imagine a future where our homes aren't just shelters, just as our products are formulated understanding nature's rhythms. It's about creating functional tools that help people engage with and support natural systems in their everyday environments. This collection reminds us that responsible manufacturing can help bridge the gap between where we are now in the Anthropocene and where we could be in the Symbiocene - a future where human and nature's rhythms work together as one.

References: Peter Nasielski