He rose to fame in 2013 by developing a fabric capable of repelling a moving bullet which he called "bulletproof skin".
Eindhoven-based Dutch artist, inventor and entrepreneur Jalila Essaïdi, specializing in biotechnology and bioart, as well as CEO of the biotech company Inspidere BV, reinforced human skin in vitro with spider silk from genetically modified organisms.
The result could stop the firing of ammunition at reduced speed and to prove it she tried it herself.
In 2016 he specialized in designing clothes with bio-based materials and presented his collection of swimsuits made by recycling cow manure, fulfilling his goal of creating haute couture from waste.
It was obviously not the first time that scientists had looked for ways to solve the manure problem, but it was one of the first times that manure was considered a valuable resource.
In 2021, the Dezeen 15 festival, from the digital architecture and design magazine Dezeen, selected Jalila as one of the 15 creators who presented their ideas to change the world in the next 15 years.
His manifesto revealed another look at ecology and sustainability.
He titled it Consumerism, Materialism, and Waste, and wrote: “Sustainable design strategies may seem to make sense in our current capitalist system;
however, they simply pass the problem on to the next generation.”
Attracted by her work with biotechnology and her interdisciplinary and collaborative approach, as soon as I land in Eindhoven I stay with her.
This is one of the most advanced cities in Europe, the cradle of technological thought, a legacy from the years in which it housed another city called Philips.
Eindhoven does not tell you the past, but the future.
I arrive at the Jalila Bioart Laboratory, a World War II bunker hidden in the forest he calls Symbiocene Forest.
He invites me to a coffee.
I don't know whether to call her an artist or a scientist.
“I am human, and, depending on the project, I am an entrepreneur, I am creative or I am an economist”.
I want to know if Eindhoven invites her to innovate too: “Yes, here people are very united by knowledge”.
We review the state of the current ecology and its sense of use “We need hope.
Sometimes the solution is in the problem.
Nothing in nature should be considered waste.
Manure is rich in cellulose and can generate new sustainable raw materials that can be used by the manufacturing industry and stimulate the development of innovative technologies.
I look for solutions instead of seeing problems.”
When in doubt as to which has more transformative capacity, art or science, Jalila opts for both.
He will repeat the word symbiosis nine times.
“I believe in connecting nature and art.
Industrial creativity, biotechnology and nature meet in my laboratory.
I also believe in Glenn Albrecht [philosopher who coined the term solastalgia, emotional stress due to climate change], who thinks that we need a symbiosis of culture, nature and technology.
And I am glad to see that designers today are thinking about circularity, about new materials, about the health of the planet, about symbiosis with nature”.
We walk through the environment and the buildings that make up this ambitious open-air laboratory.
I understand why Jalila likes Alexander Pope: “The touch of the spider, how exquisitely fine!
Feel in each thread and live along the line.
I see the symbiosis between the manure, the volunteers from all over the world, the chickens, the rabbits and the talents that come to train in biotechnology.
I bring up the subject of new projects.
Jalila reaches out towards the forest.
“This is my project, don't you think it's enough?”.
Nope.
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