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Dosier Creates Sustainable Tabletop Material

November 30th, 2016

Ginger Krieg Dosier (Architecture ’05), CEO of bioMASON, developed a marble-esque tabletop material featured in a Popular Science article about sustainable alternatives to leather. The process relies on bacteria that form calcium carbonate around grains of sand, which is how sea shells and coral reefs are formed.

“It’s really learning from nature,” says Dosier. “We can explore different shapes and different applications for this technology just by changing the size of the sand, the temperature or pH levels, and by adding colors to the mix.”

According to the magazine, depending on what ingredients are used and the conditions they’re grown in, the resulting product can take the form of bricks, façade tiles, or table tops, she says. Her company has already used this special “biocement” to pave a pair of courtyards in San Francisco, and she’s working with architects and builders who could theoretically make bioMASON bricks themselves on site.