Home
About¶
Hello, my name is Julija Karas. I am a Slovenian-born industrial designer and material maker. I graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. For the past couple of years, I have been a freelance material designer and researcher, designing biomaterials in my home studio. I am driven by the explorative and experimental practices of design in collaboration with natural and technological processes. Within my work I seek regeneration through materiality, and would like to show, how different our world can be built and how exciting that might be.
Contact: md.julija.karas@gmail.com
Material-driven exploration¶
As a master student, my first interaction with biomaterials happened when I was looking for a solution to discarded natural resources in one of our local distribution companies. Through the exploration of waste as a new resource, an intuitive idea of designing a new material sprung. It was really interesting to witness, how tightly the world of matter interacts with our learned habits and material innovation, and furthermore, how it can greatly contribute to regenerative practices in the built environment. Perceiving a thing beyond the designation of a product and recognizing its elemental structure, is what opened up a creative passage of new perspectives and possibilities. I love the idea of making materials and applying them to a certain situation accordingly, rather than picking them up from the known material library. I believe that aspect is fundamental to all forms of designing stuff and processes that create our everyday lives. By incorporating different fields of also basic knowledge, DIY disciplines, and sensations in their making, the work has also become a very personal journey for me.
Previous work¶
Some of the biomaterials samples I made for the biomaterial library for the creative center Center Rog in Ljubljana .
Motivation to join Fabricademy¶
Biomaterial prototypes I have made before were fabricated with simple tools, showcasing that meaningful solutions and ideas can emerge on a basic production level. Highlighting the importance of incorporating human senses and out-of-the-box thinking in design is a starting point for the formation of new materiality. In order to generate purposeful ecological solutions for reframing our societal production systems and needs, the biological operational space and technological operational space need to fuel each other in a reciprocal relationship. The technological support in the experimentation of new material practices through biofabrication and biotechnology is what I wish to investigate further and I believe I am in the right place.
 Project management |
 Digital bodies |
 Circular fashion |
 Biochromes |
 . . . E-textiles |
 Biofabricating |
 Computational couture |
 Wearables |
 Soft robotics |
 Open-source hardware |
 Textile scaffold |
 Skin electronics |