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Biopolimérica is not just an event, it is a meeting of new materials, where designers, researchers, collectives and communities come together to explore the potential of biomaterials: materials born from the crossroads between design, science, technology and, of course, nature.
Organized by the Biomaterials Laboratory of Valdivia (LABVA) and the Manifiesto collective, this project moves away from generic and globalized solutions to focus on local answers, born from the cultural, environmental and social particularities of each territory.
As its organizers point out from Chile, “we are moving away from the global and generic in search of new situated biomaterial experiences”.
Photo: Biopolimérica 2024
From Valdivia to Colombia: a growing network
After a successful edition in Valdivia, Chile (2023), which culminated with the publication of a digital catalog open to the public, Biopolimérica continues its itinerancy and arrives in Colombia in 2025, expanding its network of collaboration and knowledge.
This new edition has key allies in the country, such as Mauro Vásquez Rendón, an academic from the Faculty of Design at the University of Medellín; Manuela Montoya, a professional in bioeconomy from the Humboldt Institute; and designers Laura Calderón and Juliana Hémbuz, from Balance Bio, Colombian references in biodesign and sustainability.
María José Besoain, director of Biopolimérica and co-founder of LABVA, explains that the objective is to build a living map of biodesign in Latin America, connecting projects, territories and institutions, and promoting a genuine exchange between scientific, ancestral and creative knowledge.
Bioeconomy, biodiversity and design: a powerful convergence
Colombia, with its immense biodiversity and growing interest in the bioeconomy, is emerging as a key scenario for thinking about new forms of sustainable production. As Manuela Montoya from the Humboldt Institute points out, the bioeconomy enables the development of new materials based on the responsible and sustainable use of biological resources, integrating science, technology and innovation.
This approach not only enables new material solutions, but also opens ways to reduce negative impacts and restore ecosystems, as highlighted by Balance Bio: “Biomaterials can be an active tool to care for and regenerate our environment”.
Photo: Biopolimérica 2024
An open call for the Latin American biodesign ecosystem
Biopolimérica 2025 opens its doors to all those individuals and groups that are exploring or developing new biomaterials. The call is aimed at research centers, universities, startups, companies, artistic collectives and independent designers who want to share their processes, discoveries and proposals.
As Mauricio Vásquez Rendón says, “the development of biomaterials is also a way to preserve our culture and reconnect with our identity through matter”.
This call seeks to make visible projects that are often invisible, connect experiences and strengthen a Latin American fabric that thinks about design from its territories, its problems and its potentials.
A living catalog, an expanding community
Biopolimérica’s digital catalog is already a valuable resource for researchers, teachers and the design curious. It contains concrete examples of how different initiatives in Latin America are proposing new paths from biomaterial and sustainability.
As Manifiesto points out, this input allows “discovering the Latin American (bio)diversity embodied in the creative and scientific development and in the valorization of ancestral knowledge”.
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