State of the art, project management and documentation¶

1. Objective¶

2. About me¶

Welcome to my Fabricademy journey. I am a creator focused on biomaterial research, with my core work on kombucha microbial cellulose (KMC) — a living fermented material developed for sustainable packaging applications.

Driven by curiosity about regenerative materials, I have participated in FCC High-School for two sessions. Through collage art and interactive hardware projects, I built practical skills in texture observation, user-centred thinking, and physical prototyping. These capabilities continuously support my ongoing KMC research.

I hope to join Fabricademy to break through the existing technical limitations of kombucha cellulose and further explore real-world applications of living biomaterials.

3. Where it all began — a jar of sweet tea¶

The inspiration behind this site, and behind almost everything I make, is kombucha microbial cellulose.

It started with a simple observation that stayed with me: sweet tea, a living culture, and time — together they grow a material. No factory, no extraction, just fermentation doing the work. Once I saw a living sheet of cellulose forming with my own eyes, I could not stop asking questions: How strong is it? Can it replace the disposable plastics I see everywhere around me? Where does it fail, and why?

Those questions became my research.

Images: Kexin Lyu (Kathy)¹

I independently carry out laboratory research on fermented kombucha microbial cellulose (KMC). This project explores kombucha-derived cellulose as an alternative to disposable food-service plastics. Produced through natural fermentation with simple raw inputs, KMC can biodegrade under ordinary environmental conditions, unlike many commercial bio-plastics that require industrial composting.

I completed hands-on fermentation trials and produced physical packaging prototypes, and this work was awarded Bronze Prize in the 2^nd Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Youth Creative Design Competition.

Even so, native KMC faces real constraints including weak water resistance and unstable mechanical performance. Solving these material limitations remains my core research goal, which motivates my application.

4. Everything I have made so far¶

I am still a high school student, so my body of work is not large yet. Instead of hiding that, I want to show all of it — everything below is something I actually made with my own hands, documented as honestly as I can.

Nantou Old Town Collage Art¶

Nantou Old Town contains layered residential architecture from distinct periods, with weathered facades capturing traces of time. We documented mottled wall surfaces and worn paving bricks in its unrenovated quarters. Deconstructing and reassembling these textures via collage within a physical miniature, the work revives urban-village memories for local Shenzhen residents and conveys neighbourhood stories to new arrivals.

Cognitive Training Hardware Prototype¶

Our initial idea was senior strength-training equipment. After reassessing real-world user demands, we pivoted toward a lightweight game-oriented cognitive training prototype.

Built with Xingkong board, LED strips and physical buttons, I programmed game logic including random light triggering, button feedback and scoring through Mind+. The device can run offline for real-world user testing.

2D Art portfolio¶

Alongside my material research, I draw and paint. My 2D portfolio gathers ten pieces in charcoal, oil and mixed media, orbiting recurring themes of mine: the body, mannequins, mirrors, and fragments of the city.

View my 2D Art portfolio →

5. Tools I used¶

• GitLab & MkDocs — this website, edited entirely through the browser
• Markdown — writing these pages
• Mind+ — programming the cognitive training prototype
• Xingkong board, LED strips, physical buttons — hardware of the prototype
• TinyPNG — compressing images before uploading
• iLovePDF — compressing PDFs
• AI assistants — my patient tech tutors for Markdown and CSS questions

6. Reflection¶

This site is small right now, like a young kombucha culture. But that is exactly what I like about it: cellulose grows one thin layer at a time, and so does documentation. Over the coming months I want this page to become the record of me learning to work with living materials — fermenting, failing, adjusting, and trying again.

7. References¶