We live in a time of ecological uncertainty due to the impacts of the industrial age. In the last century, humans have not been very responsible stewards of the planet, and the impact on our natural environment has become increasingly indelible and unsustainable. In an effort to stop and potentially reverse this trend, we will need a variety of relational solutions, one of which is to prioritize sustainability in the design and production of materials and artifacts that we use every day. Accordingly, this dissertation focuses on processes for developing and designing biomaterials, materials that are derived from living organisms and can easily biodegrade in the environment. While the biomaterials presented here have traditional non-biological material counterparts, I use these biomaterials to inspire non-traditional, post-Anthropocentric making practices that support the unique agencies and affordances of each biomaterial.

Drawing from material science, biodesign, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and posthumanism, I use this dissertation to present my process for making and making-with biomaterials. I exemplify this process through three biomaterials for more-than-human futures: (1) Alganyl, an algae-based vinyl-like bioplastic, (2) ReClaym, a personal food waste-based bioclay, and (3) SCOBY, a bio-leather grown from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. For each biomaterial, I describe its recipe, properties, fabrication methods, potential uses, and life cycle from generation to decay.

This work not only adds new biomaterials to the ever-growing library of expressive materials in HCI, but also grounds biomaterial research and development in more-than-human design practices that encourage makers to design in more nurturing and sustainable ways. I close this work by reflecting and speculating on how biomaterials and the practices we use to make and make with biomaterials can lead to more-than-human futures—futures in which humans, nonhumans, and technology entangle to create a supportive network for sustainable collaborative survival.