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July 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 15

SANDY HAGGART (

1, 2

); MICHAL MAZUR (

3 )

ART AND SCIENCE

Cultured Art

A designer uses bacteria

to create stunning lamps

Most people think of bacteria as unseen dis-

ease carriers and simply want to wash their

hands of them. But Stockholm-based indus-

trial designer Jan Klingler is putting them in

the spotlight with his colorful lamps. “Every

living being and place has its own unique

and personal microbiological fingerprint,”

Klingler says. By capturing such signatures,

he aims to bottle memories.

Customers who order one of Klingler’s

lamps—which will be for sale soon—will

get a kit with a sterile swab they can brush

on a loved one, pet or object. (Klingler him-

self swabbed the subway station pillar

where he met his partner.) The customer

will send the sample back to Klingler, who

will culture it in a petri dish.

Bacterial colonies erupt in different col-

ors, which Klingler can customize by varying

the species and growth medium. This ap -

proach creates flam boyant shapes “growing

into each other and melting together in

interesting patterns,” he says. Klingler and

his collaborator Volkan Özenci, a microbiol-

ogist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden,

are now experimenting with

tuning growth speed and

dur ation. “It is impossible to

exactly foresee what will

grow,” Klingler says.

After the bacteria multiply

for a day or two, he en cases them in resin,

making what he calls “modern fossils.” The

resin disks are then embedded in blown-

glass structures that resemble laboratory

equipment. Finally, bright LEDs bring the

colors and patterns to life. — Prachi Patel

Colorful bacterial colonies—

such as Serratia marcescens

and Escherichia coli ( 1 and 2 )

and other species ( 3 )—add

flair to flasklike lamps.

1 2

3

Fluids & Tools!

© 2019 Scientific American