Flavobacteria's Structural Colour

Abstract

Flavobacteria could become a sustainable alternative for the colouring industry by using them to grow colours on artefacts, as they are capable of creating dazzling structural colour. To contribute to this development, the temporal and iridescent appearance is characterized, captured and communicated within this graduation project. The appearance of naturally grown Flavobacteria on marine growth medium is characterized regarding its size, iridescence and dominant colour. This is done by capturing colonies of Flavobacteria every 8 hours of their lives from different angles. It turns out the surface area grows quadratically; the colony appears the brightest when looking at the retroreflection from a height of 45° degrees; the colony reaches its green colour with red edges within 24 hours. A setup is created to capture samples of Flavobacteria consistently and densely. To properly capture the temporal and iridescent appearance, the setup is automated and able to tilt and rotate the sample, as well as change the azimuth angle (i.e., the angle between the light and the camera). To create straightforward visualizations that communicate Flavobacteria’s unique appearance, an interactive webpage is created. This communication tool shows the captured sample and allows users to control the variables of the data (i.e., the tilt and rotation of the sample, the azimuth angle and the time). Besides communicating Flavobacteria’s appearance to designers and artists, the communication tool can be used during experiments regarding influences on the appearance. These experiments need to be conducted in the future for designers to be able to steer the appearance to grow colours on artefacts to our own liking. To easily draw conclusions from these experiments, a second version of the communication tool is created, showing two samples side by side. At the end of the project, design guidelines are formulated based on the characterization and experience of working with Flavobacteria, for designers that will integrate Flavobacteria’s structural colour. Finally, further research is recommended regarding the definition of properties, the communication and perception of Flavobacteria and the search for potential application areas.