Symbiocene, Living Furniture

Peter Nasielski

Summary
Final work

Peter Nasielski is a furniture and lighting designer from California, currently researching regenerative design at Central Saint Martins. Through his practice based research, Peter envisions a new role for furniture in an ecological context. Using design as a means to communicate the dynamics of living systems, Peter aims to educate through functional artifacts with the goal of increasing individuals' ecological awareness.

Peter Nasielski is a furniture and lighting designer from California, currently researching...

CollegeCentral Saint Martins
CourseMA Design (Ceramics, Furniture, Jewellery)
Graduation year2023

This collection explores life in the Symbiocene at the scale of the home and the individual through living bioactive furniture. The Symbiocene could be the next chapter in Earth’s history, an era in which human society becomes fully integrated with physical and living systems at all scales.

In this future vision, furniture takes on a new role, fostering symbiotic relationships between individuals and photosynthetic microalgae. This regenerative paradigm leverages the incredible properties of Spirulina, an edible species of cyanobacteria that captures atmospheric carbon more efficiently than any terrestrial plant.

Each piece of furniture functions as a photobioreactor, or a device for growing algae. The algae growing within the pieces generates a source of fresh oxygen and of edible, vegan protein directly in the home.

Engaging with the algae in daily life expands an individual's Ecological Awareness, fostering symbiotic relationships between individuals and photosynthetic microalgae.

This collection furthers conversations around how we can intermesh our lives with living systems to benefit our shared planetary ecosystem.