She merges scientific inquiry with traditional textile design, crafting innovative materials like bio-plastics. Grounded in biology and inspired by her heritage, her creations redefine clothing as vessels for storytelling, emotional resonance, and sustainability – garments that whisper their message and dissolve harmlessly into the environment.
Brenda Palomino is a bio-textile designer and founder of ‘Middle Child’ who creates sustainable, innovative materials by merging biology, materials science, and textile design, often using living organisms, microorganisms, or natural structural principles.
Palomino is Peruvian-born but currently based in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), a geographic region in western North America.
Her process is a fascinating blend of traditional and modern techniques. She starts by collecting and processing organic materials like seaweed, coffee grounds, and orange peels, breaking them down into biopolymers through fermentation or chemical treatment. These biopolymers are then mixed with natural additives to boost strength and texture, before being cast or molded into textile forms – think fabric or leather-like materials.
The final touch involves treating and finishing the materials to enhance durability and aesthetics. It’s a truly innovative approach that combines Peruvian heritage with cutting-edge science.
Q & A
Why did you choose to work with this type of materials?
I work with seaweed and natural textiles to create materials that exist at the intersection of fashion, sculpture, and research. I grew up in Talara, where the coast basically eats everything. Between the salt, the sun, and the wind, nothing stays untouched, so I never really bought into the myth of “forever.”
My background is this weird collision between Biology and Fashion Design, and that duality drives my choices. When I look at synthetic textiles, I just see “forced immortality”: stuff that lasts but never resolves. I chose organic waste because it lets me design the exit as much as the entrance. Honestly, it’s also about rejecting scarcity.
Kelp and sea moss are everywhere; they’re cheap, they grow fast, and they don’t need fresh water or land. I’m not interested in a supply chain that bleeds the planet. I’d rather use what’s already here to engineer a timeline where fading is actually a function. I want the material to have the dignity of returning to the soil.
What’s your design inspiration?
My inspiration moves between natural patterns, architecture, and history. Nature gives me logic: repetition, erosion, membranes, and the way water layers over sand. Architecture inspired some of my silhouettes: a structure that can feel protective, sharp, or sensual depending on proportion.
History is my research tool. Looking back helps me understand what we inherit and repeat, allowing me to answer the present with intention. And Talara is always there in the background: ocean next to industry, beauty next to extraction. I love the idea of contrast as a permanent state.
What are the challenges of developing the bio-textile materials?
The main challenge is making a living material wearable without forcing it to behave like plastic. Biomaterials are sensitive to variables that industrial fashion tries to erase: humidity, temperature, drying speed, thickness, binder ratios, and pigment load. A small shift can change everything. I treat my studio like a lab: it is a constant trial and error. I’m documenting binder ratios and tear strength, but mostly I’m waiting for the material to tell me what it wants to do.
The hard part is balancing the science with the chaos. You have to accept that you’re collaborating with nature, not just commanding a surface. It’s a slow, sometimes frustrating negotiation, but that slowness is part of the integrity. You’re not manufacturing fabric; you’re engineering a material system.
Who are you designing for?
I design for people excited to feel and see something new, viewing clothing as a form of art and intellectual communication. They aren’t just looking for something ‘pretty’; they want a garment that carries weight and meaning.
I want the garment to create a sensory reaction: something unfamiliar, alive, slightly unsettling in the best way. I’m especially drawn to transparencies for anyone, regardless of gender, because sensuality isn’t a category; it’s already present in our bodies. I’m interested in highlighting that through light, movement, and surface.
The person I design for is comfortable with transparency and imperfection. They are comfortable with revealing without explaining. They’re willing to wear a piece of art that is slowly, beautifully dying. The person I design for values craft, experimentation, and clothing that carries meaning, not just trend.
As the fashion world shifts towards sustainability, Palomino’s pioneering work serves as a beacon, illuminating a path towards a more eco-friendly future. By merging ancient traditions with cutting-edge science, she’s crafting materials that not only reduce waste and pollution but also challenge our relationship with clothing itself.
Her creations invite us to rethink the lifecycle of fashion, from production to disposal, and envision a world where garments gently disappear, leaving behind only memories. In a industry often criticized for its environmental footprint, Palomino’s work is a powerful reminder that fashion can be both beautiful and sustainable, paving the way for a greener tomorrow.
NOTES:
Biopolymers are sustainable, biodegradable, and biocompatible polymers produced by living organisms (natural) or derived from renewable biological resources (bio-based).
Seaweed is a common name for large, multicellular marine algae, not true plants, that thrive in oceans and other water bodies, serving vital ecosystem roles and used globally as food (sushi, soups), fertilizer, cosmetics, and medicine, noted for being rich in iodine and other minerals, and coming in red, brown (kelp), and green varieties.
Seaweed is highly sustainable, acting as a regenerative, “zero-input” crop that requires no land, freshwater, pesticides, or fertilizers to grow. It functions as a powerful, fast-growing carbon sink—sequestering carbon 50 times faster than terrestrial plants—while reducing ocean acidification and providing habitat for marine life.
