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EPISODE 123 FEATURES DAVID BRESLAUER, COFOUNDER OF BOLD THREADS

"You can't farm spiders!" says this week's guest, scientist David Breslauer.

You can keep more them in serious numbers spinning webs off hula-hoops suspended from your office ceiling though...

Enter Bolt Threads, the Californian biotech company behind Microsilk - a bioengineered sustainable fibre used by Stella McCartney. Find out how they did it, where the science is headed, and what’s next (hint, it's involves mushrooms). Just don’t call David Spider Man.

The related Episodes Clare mentions in the into are: Episode 44 on the Fashioned From Nature exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum, and Episode 37 with Stella McCartney’s Worldwide Sustainability & Innovation Director Claire Bergkamp.

ABOUT BOLT THREADS The company was formed in 2012 by David Breslauer, Dan Widmaier and Ethan Mirsky. They say: “Bolt Threads is a material solutions company. Taking nature as our inspiration we invent and scale advanced, credible materials that put us on a path towards a more sustainable future. Way better materials for a way better world.” Find them here.

NOTES

BIOTECH

WEARABLES

HUSSEIN CHALAYAN’S ANIMATRONIC COLLECTION See the wonder, below:

BOLT THREADS’ MICROSILK PROCESS They say: “MicrosilkTM can be produced with less environmental impact than traditional textile manufacturing, with the potential to biodegrade at the end of its useful life.”

Check out this Forbes article for the background.

“Welcome to the world of biomaterials, where entrepreneurs with Ph.D.s in chemistry can order up DNA, grow yeast in small containers, and create lab-made versions of proteins in nature, such as the dragline silk of a giant spider known technically as argiope bruehnicci. One advantage of the lab-grown silk is that it can theoretically be altered into whatever consumers might need it to be—strong and soft and stretchy. While other spider-silk researchers have focused on military and medical applications, Bolt Threads is looking to use the material to make better clothing.” Read the rest on Forbes.

“WHEN YOU CONSIDER WHAT NATURE DOES ELEGANTLY, I THINK IT’S PRETTY HUMBLING.” - DAVID BRESLAUER

SPIDER SILK IN HISTORY Illustrations survive of devices made in the 18th and 19th centuries for extracting silk from the spiders, which produce the extraordinary golden fibre in only one season of each year. The glowing colour is natural, and unique to the species.

WATCH Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley discuss their Golden Spider Silk Cape with the V&A below. Peers learned about spider silk weaving in the 20 years he lived and worked in Madagascar. It took the silk from 23,000 spiders to weave 25 grammes of silk, and there are 1.5kg of silk in the cape.

MYLO is Bolt Threads animal-free answer to leather. They say: “We developed Mylo from mycelium cells by engineering it to assemble into a supple yet durable material that can replace real and synthetic leather. Mylo can be produced in days versus years, a process that minimizes our environmental impact.” More here.

MUSIC is by Montaigne, who sang this special acoustic version of “Because I love You” from her album Glorious Heights, just for us.

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Clare & the Wardrobe Crisis team x