In 2019, I moved to London and began working at Makerversity, a set of studios at Somerset House, in Central London. Every single resident, whether an individual or a collective, was each incredibly interesting in their own way, but there was one group in particular that really captivated my interest. Shellworks, a biotech founded by some graduates of the MA/MSc IDE (Innovative Design Engineering) programme by the RCA and Imperial College London.
I was fascinated with their creation at the time, Shellmer, a biopolymer derived from seafood waste. My peers probably grew sick of me talking about the wonders of the ‘lobster shell plastic’, but as environmentally conscious creative, I was blown away by it all. It also helped that Amir and Insiya, the co-founders and CPO and CEO respectively, were two of the nicest people I’d met.
A few years after the lockdown, during which I had left Somerset House, I had just started my Masters in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at University of the Arts London, and had a short project assigned to me around the theme of ‘Work’. The brief was to spend a few hours in the workplace of any area we found interesting. My first thought was Shellworks, and Amir and Insiya happily invited me to spend the day with them and their team.
I turned up in the morning at their base in Fish Island (ironically not an actual island) in East London, and quietly observed them starting up. First came a team meeting, discussing the To Do’s and tasks for the day. Then I was taken through the process for their latest product, Vivomer, a vegan polymer.
Pictured Above: Senior Mechanical Engineer David, jotting down notes for his day.
I started with their Materials Scientist Anand,