Enter Seaweed Salon

From styrofoam to straws, we know that single use plastics have expiration date - and it's just around the corner.

Our planet is in dire need of a radical sustainable intervention, and seaweed could be the answer we're looking for. Part of Jessie French and Lichen Kemp's work as Seaweed Appreciation Society International is to create practical artworks that ask not how, but when biomutualism will play a part in our everyday lives. They believe that with simple ingredients found on beaches or in grocery stores, we have the power to reduce waste.

Their practice has taken them to beaches across the globe, mostly recently Morocco, where they visited the world’s primary plant of agar production. Intent on sharing their knowledge far and wide, they have reimagined a future where bioplastics made from algae can be made in the home, mixed up alongside refreshing seaweed cocktails.

Seaweed Salon is a presentation of DIY workshops plus their research findings.

These how-to videos can be done with ingredients most already in the home, though some might require a trip to the Asian grocery. Follow along below to find out how you can create your own sustainable plastic from algae and beta-carotene in just a few simple steps.

INGREDIENTS

Water
Glycerin
Agar Powder
Colourings such as spirulina and beta-carotene
Saucepan
Mixing spoons
Tray

METHOD

Pour 500ML water into saucepan, adding 25g agar powder and colourings. Mix thoroughly.

Place on stove with medium-high heat. Bring to boil then turn down and simmer on low/medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Be sure to stir regularly and check consistency. Continue to simmer until smooth.

Test mixture by dropping on counter and leave to cool/set for 1-2 minutes. If after then it’s hard, the mixture is ready to add glycerin.

Grab tray (and assistance if you have someone handy). Hold the tray on an angle and pour on, to cover the whole surface. Leave to dry for 24 hours.

After it’s dry, you can gently peel off the tray by finding the edges. Use a knife to loosen up in the corners if needed. Slowly and gently peel away from the tray.

Leave to dry for about a week, stretching it out each day.

BASF supplied the beta-carotene used in Seaweed Salon, sourced from Australia’s pink salt lakes.

In their quest to explore seaweed’s sustainability contributions further [Jessie and Lichen] created an edible bio-plastic film out of BASF’s natural beta-carotene – an algal Vitamin A derivative. Cultivated in Australia’s picturesque pink lakes, BASF’s natural beta-carotene is a health ingredient applied in dietary supplements and used commonly in the food industry as a colorant.

Read more about how BASF supported this speculative seaweed future.

During National Science Week 2020, Jessie and Lichen shared findings from their research trip to Morocco on the Science Gallery Melbourne instagram.

Over the next few posts, Seaweed Salon artists @frenchjessie and @lichenkelp of @seaweed_appreciation_society will share some of their research into a sustainable seaweed future. In January 2020 this took them to Morocco where they met algae harvesting experts and visited an agar production plant. "On the advice of local marine biologist and seaweed expert, Younes Boundir (ty @seaweeds_of_morocco) we travelled to Sidi Bouzid and El Jadida, where much of the red algae used to produce agar is harvested . This work is done by independent harvesters who collect it along the shore or dive for it. Any diving is done under strict controls: dive sites where the algae grows is assessed by independent marine biologists who approve that the crops are okay to be harvested in a sustainable way. That will maintain the harvests for future seasons. The implementation of these controls resulted in global bacteriological agar shortages in 2013/14, which we had read about and wanted to follow up on to find out more about the sustainability of the agar we use in our practice." Seaweed Salon is supported by @basf_global. #algae #agar #seaweed #STEM #nationalscienceweek

"This is a piece of gelidium sesquipedale that we found in shallow rock pools on the beach in Sidi Bouzid, one of the two main types of red algae harvested in Morocco for agar production" @frenchjessie and @lichenkelp of @seaweed_appreciation_society share their experiences on residency in Morocco at La Pause, in the Agafay desert outside of Marrakech. Join the artists at 6pm tonight for a Q&A about the residency and sustainable seaweed futures! "Gelidium Sesiquipedale is a commercially important source of agar, yet it cannot be cultivated as it grows on rocky bottoms of the ocean in areas of high water movement. Referred to as red gold, it produces the highest gel-strength agar that is used in laboratories and cannot be cultivated. The other type is from the genus Gracilaria, which is commonly used in food." Seaweed Salon is supported by @basf_global. #agar #algae #seaweed #STEM #nationalscienceweek #beachcombing

"Morocco is the world's leading producer of agar supplying around 14,000 tones annually. In January this year, we visited the only agar processing plant in Africa, Setexam, which produces more than half of the world's bacteriological agar. It is a third generation family business started by marine biologists who recognised the red algae growing off Morocco." @frenchjessie and @lichenkelp of @seaweed_appreciation_society share their experiences on residency in Morocco at La Pause, in the Agafay desert outside of Marrakech. "When we asked Sexetem about the global bacteriological shortages in 2013/14, they explained that they had worked with the Moroccan government alongside a group of industry representatives to bring in controls as there had been widespread over-harvesting. They supply highly specialised agars to customers around the world as well as pursuing a number of projects to support ongoing sustainability of harvests. In labs onsite at their plant, their specialists test and purify agar to deliver specialised orders to customers that can ensure reproducibility in labs as well as products like food." Seaweed Salon is supported by @basf_global. #algae #seaweed #STEM #science #nationalscienceweek

Showcasing the breadth and malleability of seaweed - plus their enthusiasm for the plant - Lichen and Jessie also shared recipes they have devised for refreshing Seaweed Cocktails

Non-alcoholic Kelp Cocktail
Beta-carotene sugar syrup
Soda or ginger ale
Kombu syrup
Dried seaweed
Dehydrated cumquat
Seaweed ice (freeze some nori in your tray!)

Nori-smoked Gin Cocktail
Gin
Nori sheets
Vessel for catching smoke + covering
Blowtorch
Fire-proof surface
Well-ventilated space