WINT is a design lab established in 2019, based in Berlin, which is dedicated, through various methods of investigation and experimentation, to finding responsible, ecological and technological solutions to shape a more sustainable and desirable future.The lab is currently directed by visionaries Felix Rasehorn and Robin Hoske, who make interdisciplinarity their banner.
WINT has recently developed and presented a new biopolymer for the production of new high-performance collagen-derived textiles.
The aim of this research project is to create a material with similar characteristics to the original 'tissue' under investigation and with the same properties as skin. What inspired this research is Goldbeater's skin, the outermost layer of tissue of the cow's intestine; this is an extremely elastic, thin but tear-resistant parchment that was traditionally used in the process of making gold leaf by beating and reducing the gold into leaves of just 1 μm.
Mimotype Technologies, a biotech start-up from Berlin, then studied its exceptional properties, analysed the tissue structurally and biochemically, compared three types of tissue and discovered that the sequenced RNA of the Goldbeater skin is unique. Further biochemical analysis then led to a minimal sequence that will serve as the basis for its reproduction by cultivation in bioreactors.
The production of this biodegradable and vegan material is still under development and requires time and capital, but WINT has nonetheless produced a prototype demonstration jacket using the substrate derived from the material extracted from the original membrane, resulting in an extremely interesting product in terms of both appearance and properties.
A progenitor of this water-repellent garment was found by searching through historical archives; it was discovered that the Inuit had already made a gut parka from a similar type of material to keep hunters dry in their kayaks.
WINT and Mimotype prove that nature is a source of inspiration for sustainable, circular and high-performance textile alternatives.
The project and prototype were presented during the 'Rethinking Plastic‘ exhibition at Dutch Design Week 2022 .
