Skip to content

13. CONCEPT: SAGRADA SANGRE

WHO

This project is driven by Aleksandra Piotrowska, a hybrid creative with background in innovation and her interest for the intersection of design, science, and culture. The project seeks to engage designers, biomaterial innovators, and fashion designers who are eager to explore radical alternatives to conventional materials.

WHAT

SAGRADA SANGRE is a biodesign project that transforms slaughter waste, such as blood, bones (gelatin), and leather scraps, into regenerative contemporary biomaterials. The project challenges the binary opposition between the leather industry and the biomaterial industry, aiming to harmonize their values and foster sustainable, regenerative practices. Initially, SAGRADA SANGRE was supposed to source blood from the slaughterhouse industry but ended up developing a collaboration with a Fabricademy alumna's farm. Its goal is to seeks to confront industrial waste while exploring its aesthetic, functional, and regenerative potential.

Inspired by punk subculture’s ethos of rebellion and raw creativity, SAGRADA SANGRE is a critique of perfection, tradition, and blind worship. Just as punk tore down conventions to reconstruct identity and culture, this project dismantles the sanitized ideals of sustainability and reconstructs them with unapologetic rawness.

CONCEPT: SAGRADA SANGRE by Aleksandra Piotrowska

WHEN

    𖡎 JANUARY: Source materials (blood, leather scraps), conduct research, and begin initial prototyping.
    𖡎FEBRUARY: Refine biomaterial recipes, develop composite samples, and conceptualize a potential fashion design.
    𖡎 MARCH: Finalize prototypes, present the concept, and explore potential scalability for industrial applications.

WHERE

WHY

With 17 million tons of animal by-products produced annually in Europe, the majority remains unused, clogging landfills and increasing environmental degradation. By rethinking how materials like blood and gelatin can be reimagined into biomaterials, SAGRADA SANGRE proposes a circular and potentially regenerative solution. Animal blood is already used for soil fertilisation, hence the idea is to test its potential for the soil regeneration and biodegradability.

On a deeper level, it critiques societal aversion toward waste and material origins, asking uncomfortable questions about the ethics of sustainability. Just as punks asked their audience to confront the raw and imperfect, SAGRADA SANGRE does the same for material innovation.

INSPO

    𖡎 Stoessel, P.R. et al. (2015) ‘Porous, Water-Resistant Multifilament Yarn Spun from Gelatin’, Biomacromolecules, 16(7), pp. 1997–2005. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.5b00424.
    𖡎Stoessel, P.R. et al. (2014) ‘Fibers Mechanically Similar to Sheep Wool Obtained by Wet Spinning of Gelatin and Optional Plasticizers’, Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, 300(2), pp. 234–241. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201400240.

Pinterest moodboard.

REFERENCES

    𖡎 anewkindofblue (2024) anewkindofblue. Available at: https://anewkindofblue.com/#newblue (Accessed: 23 January 2025).
    𖡎 Dezeen (2020) Live talk with Shahar Livne | Virtual Design Festival | Dezeen www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkJsGQVtTY (Accessed: 23 January 2025).
    𖡎 European Commission (n.d.) Recycling of waste leather from footwear and other industries. Available at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/life/publicWebsite/project/LIFE97-ENV-UK-000489/recycling-of-waste-leather-from-footwear-and-other-industries#:~:text=The%20European%20footwear%20industry%20produces,of%20by%20landfill%20or%20incineration (Accessed: 15 January 2025).
    𖡎 Jalila Essaidi (2025) Jalila Essaidi. Available at: https://jalilaessaidi.com (Accessed: 23 January 2025).
    𖡎 Körlü, A. (2020) Waste in textile and leather sectors. London: Intechopen.
    𖡎 PELINOVA®: turning leather waste into a high-end new material (2024) Première Vision. Available at: https://www.premierevision.com/en/magazine/leather-waste-high-end-new-material-pelinova/ (Accessed: 23 January 2025).
    𖡎 Stoessel, P.R. et al. (2015) ‘Porous, Water-Resistant Multifilament Yarn Spun from Gelatin’, Biomacromolecules, 16(7), pp. 1997–2005. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.5b00424.
    𖡎 Stoessel, P.R. et al. (2014) ‘Fibers Mechanically Similar to Sheep Wool Obtained by Wet Spinning of Gelatin and Optional Plasticizers’, Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, 300(2), pp. 234–241. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201400240.
    𖡎 QILIN - Authentic Material (2024) Authentic Material. Available at: https://www.authentic-material.com/en/qilin/ (Accessed: 23 January 2025).
    𖡎 Shahar Livne (2024) Shahar Livne. Available at: https://www.shaharlivnedesign.com (Accessed: 23 January 2025).