Phytoform

TAC, Eindhoven

We often view light as something intangible and passive: a glow that illuminates our world, a point of light in the dark. Yet light is a crucial source to which all life on Earth responds and clings. What if we no longer saw light as something shallow, but approached it as a spatial source for growth?

In Phytoform, you’ll discover this hidden architecture of light. Using spatial light forms, designer Sanne Douve guides the growth of living biomaterials—in this case, microalgae. They instinctively seek out the light, gradually making its invisible power tangible. The result is not a static object, but a continuous interaction between humans, light technology, and biology. The living material retains a will of its own; if conditions change, the material’s expression changes as well. With this project, Sanne Douve envisions a future in which we design with time and light, leaving the final form up to nature itself.