Christopher Bellamy, CEng, BA MEng (Hons), M.A.
Christopher Bellamy, CEng, BA MEng (Hons), M.A. is a British biodesigner, engineer, and inventor based in Annecy, France. He is the Founder and Biodesigner at Bio Crafted, his award-winning biodesign studio, and Cofounder of Yanaa, a real-food sports nutrition brand.
Chris founded Bio Crafted in 2022 to research and develop living materials and biofabrication techniques that rethink how people relate to nature and the built environment. His practice sits at the intersection of art, design, science, and engineering — growing chairs from trees, encapsulating bioluminescent microalgae into wearable fabrics, and cultivating bandages from bacteria. Read The art and science of engineering with living things in the Royal Academy of Engineering’s magazine In genia.
His 2024 graduation research project, Lucid Life Marama Ora in Tahitian, is a practice-based investigation that brings together scientific and traditional knowledge through interspecies and intercultural collaboration. Working with Polynesian artisans on the island of Mo’orea — Tekoui “Jéremie” Tamari, Tokainiua Jean-Daniel Devatine, Hinatea and Moé Colombani, and Naumi “Mamie” Tapi — and with the support of the Francis Crick Institute, Chris developed a contemporary living material that encapsulates bioluminescent micro-algae, emits light in response to touch, and lives for more than six months on sunlight alone.
Read Biodesign meets Pacific islander craft in glowing Lucid Life objects in Dezeen and Lucid Life: How Designer Christopher Bellamy Uses Living Algae & Indigenous Craft to Rethink Design in Plural Magazine.
The project was selected as the cover of the University of the Arts London 2026/27 Postgraduate Guide and was named Winner of the 2024 Arts Thread Global Creative Graduate Showcase. Read Christopher Bellamy: Designing textiles to house life itself and Meet: Chris Bellamy.
In February 2025, Dutch couturier Iris van Herpen approached Chris to develop a first-of-its-kind “living look” for her Paris Haute Couture Week collection. Over the following four months, Chris developed a bespoke 35-step biofabrication process to encapsulate 125 million Pyrocystis lunula bioluminescent algae into a couture garment that emits light in response to movement. The collaboration — part of van Herpen’s collection Sympoiesis — was unveiled at the Élysée Montmartre on July 7, 2025, with Stella Maxwell on the runway. The work was produced during an artist residency at the University of Amsterdam’s Institute of Physics, in collaboration with biophysics researchers Nico Schramma and Mazi Jalaal.
Read Science on the catwalk: Iris van Herpen gives gowns a glow up, Iris van Herpen designs “first-of-its-kind” glowing algae dress, reactive bioluminescent algae illuminate iris van herpen’s haute couture show in paris, Iris Van Herpen’s New Living Bioluminescent Dress, and Bioluminescent dress glows with 125 million living algae at fashion show.
The project earned Chris the 2025 D&AD Future Impact Pencil, D&AD’s top award for early-stage prototypes demonstrating potential to drive the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Read From Bioluminescence to Biofabrication.
Alongside Bio Crafted, Chris cofounded Yanaa in December 2022. The name stands for “You Are Not An Astronaut”, reflecting the company’s belief that athletes should not have to eat synthetic space-style food. Based in Annecy and informed by a 2023 survey of 592 athletes in which 78% said existing sports nutrition was not healthy and 77% said it was disgusting to eat, Yanaa produces savoury real-food sports nutrition in flavours including beetroot and balsamic, pea and mint, and goat’s cheese and walnut. Read You Are Not An Astronaut.
Between 2020 and 2025, Chris was Marketing and Concept Manager for Salomon Protective — the French outdoor brand’s helmets and goggles line — based in Annecy. He led the product marketing for the Salomon Radium Prime Goggle, the first purely magnetic ski goggle in its class, which received the 2022 ISPO Award. Read his Retail Buyer’s Guide interview.
Between 2016 and 2020, Chris worked at the Canadian bionics startup Wiivv in Vancouver, initially as Senior Engineer and subsequently as Head of Partnerships, developing custom 3D-printed insoles and sandals designed from a smartphone app. The Wiivv Custom Fit Sandal received the Golden A’ Design Award in 2019 and the iF Design Award in 2020; the Wiivv Custom Fit Insole was Highly Commended in the Manufacturing Technology Category at the 2018 IET Innovation Awards. Read Arkwright Scholar Takes Giant Leap.
Chris is listed as an inventor on six patents covering vehicle floor assemblies, customized footwear manufacturing, portable vehicle tables, textile protective masks, and integrated coat-hanger grab handles. From 2018 to 2021, he was a Sessional Lecturer in Product Design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, teaching 3D rendering and visualisation.
Chris began his career on the Graduate Development Programme at Jaguar Land Rover in Gaydon, Warwickshire, in 2012, progressing to Engineer and then Lead Engineer on the Customer Focused Innovation team in Body Engineering, where he contributed to the development of the Jaguar I-Pace — the company’s first all-electric vehicle. In 2016, the British Engineering Excellence Awards named him Young Design Engineer of the Year, sponsored by RS Components; Jaguar Land Rover awarded him its Body Engineering Technical Excellence Award in November 2015. Read his RS Online interview.
In 2013, he won the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Present Around the World Competition — the IET’s global presentation competition for young engineers. Between 2013 and 2015, he served as Vice Chair of the IET Coventry and Warwickshire Young Professionals Committee.
Chris earned his M.A. in Biodesign, with Distinction, from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London in 2024. His degree show work is featured on the UAL Showcase. He earned a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains from the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing in 2016, and his BA MEng (Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering with First Class Honours with Distinction from the University of Cambridge in 2012, where he was awarded the Morcom Lunt and Institution of Engineering and Technology prize for most outstanding performance in Manufacturing Engineering.
At Cambridge, he was President of the Cambridge University Lightweight Rowing Club from 2010 to 2011 and Sponsorship, Media and Competitions Director for the Varsity Trip from 2008 to 2010. He received the Foundation Scholarship from Homerton College in 2011. A decade earlier, at RGS Worcester, he had been awarded an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship by the Arkwright Scholarships Trust sponsored by Worcester Bosch — an experience he credits with putting him on the engineering path — and the IMechE Vision Award in 2008.
Chris became a Chartered Engineer through the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in July 2016 and holds Carbon Literacy certification from the Carbon Literacy Project since 2021. In 2024, Chris served as a Dignitary Assistant to the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. He volunteered with The DO Lectures and has served on the committee of UAL’s Sustainability Alumni Network since graduating in 2024.
Chris is a frequent public speaker and has given keynotes at the Design Museum London, the Future Fabrics Expo, Somerset House, the Francis Crick Institute, Performance Days in Munich, and Pearfest in Worcestershire, among other venues..
Visit his Bio Crafted homepage and LinkedIn profile. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram.