Biodesigner Emma Sicher Grows Packaging and Food From Microbes

Berlin biodesigner Emma Sicher grows her materials with bacteria and yeast — turning microbial cellulose into translucent packaging, colorful material samples and edible food prototypes that range from crunchy chips to an experimental ice cream cone.

At the center of her practice sits SCOBY, the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast familiar from kombucha. As the microorganisms feed in a nutrient-rich liquid, cellulose-producing bacteria form a gelatinous membrane at the surface. Sicher harvests that membrane and processes it into flexible sheets, or develops it into different forms for food and material applications. Some finished samples resemble crinkled pieces of pink glass; others take the shape of glossy, gelatinous spheres.

What does the cellulose taste like?

Sicher's EATING SCOBY project, developed during her MA in Eco-Social Design with food microbiologists and consultation from chefs, pushes the material onto the plate. Among the prototypes are SCOBY chips that begin crunchy before becoming chewy and slightly gelatinous in the mouth — think of the texture shift of a rice paper wrapper, but grown rather than manufactured.

Other formats include an ice cream cone that can carry an inner coating of melted chocolate, and a double-flavor popsicle whose consistency the designer compares to blended aloe vera. The familiar food formats make the unusual ingredient easier to imagine on a plate, while the prototypes remain explicitly experimental — a probe into how microbial cellulose might fit future food systems rather than a product headed to shelves.

Can food waste grow its own packaging?

Sicher first worked with bacterial cellulose in her 2017 project From Peel to Peel, which proposed biodegradable food packaging grown from discarded fruit and vegetables. Apple peels and beetroot scraps served as nutrients for microbial cultures, producing thin sheets dried into wrappers and small containers. The packaging took on colors from pale yellow to deep pink depending on the ingredients.

The dried material can resemble paper or leather, with its finish shaped by the surface it dries on. It has a real limitation: the material absorbs moisture, which restricts its use for wet foods. Still, From Peel to Peel established the approach that runs through all of Sicher's work — letting biological processes influence a material's properties from the very beginning.

Where do the microbes come from now?

In research published in 2026, Sicher describes growing cellulose with microorganisms already present in the surrounding environment, without conventional kombucha starter cultures. Rowan berries foraged around Berlin and mirabelle plums collected in Brandenburg both successfully produced cellulose membranes through fermentation with naturally occurring microbial communities. Another experiment combined elderberries with a fermentation starter made from wild mirabelle plums, producing an intensely colored membrane.

Her research also draws on fermentation practices she studied with local practitioners in Thailand. Together, these experiments test how a region's plants and microbial populations might shape the materials cultivated there — introducing biological variation that standardized production couldn't achieve.

Who else is learning the process?

Sicher brings the work into education. In a workshop at Elisava School of Design and Engineering in Barcelona, students prepared plant infusions, cultivated their own SCOBY membranes, and worked with wet and dried cellulose to observe how processing changes its texture and behavior. Her research on alternative plant infusions has likewise examined how botanical ingredients influence the density and physical properties of the grown material.

The larger point is about authorship. Sicher can select the plants and prepare the growing environment, but the microorganisms play their own part in forming what emerges. Her work suggests a way of making in which the surrounding ecology participates in the design process — one fermented berry harvest at a time.