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ALWAKIA | Bacterial-Nacre Resistance Armour

ELIE AL-MARJI

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Profile picture of ELIE AL-MARJI

Elie is a creative director and biodesigner working at the intersection of regenerative design, sustainability, visual communication and material innovation. With over 18 years of experience leading global branding projects, he merges strategic design thinking with emerging biotechnologies. His recent work explores the cultural and ecological potential of nacre, using biofabrication to reimagine traditional craft and propose new ways of engaging with nature.

Elie is a creative director and biodesigner working at the intersection of regenerative design, s...

Inspired by the violent suppression of student-led protests against genocide in Gaza, ALWAKIA (Arabic for The Protectress) responds to a world where resisting injustice is life-threatening. ALWAKIA is a statement piece of protective gear, designed for student activists who risk their bodies to amplify their voices. Crafted from bacterial nacre, a living material grown with Sporosarcina pasteurii through biomineralization, it mimics mother-of-pearl without harming ecosystems. 

In the face of extractive systems, ALWAKIA collaborates with the living: bacteria, artisans, and activists, to propose a future shaped by care, resistance, and regeneration. Offering an impact-resistant, structured armour, the project draws on endangered Levantine nacre inlay traditions, fusing cultural resilience with ecological responsibility. 

As student movements rise globally in the face of genocide, war, and ecocide, this biologically forged armour becomes both shield and symbol. It empowers a generation to protest injustice while preserving the crafts and ecosystems they fight for.

Final work

Back view of the ALWAKIA jacket showing a spine-like structure with circular forms around it, mimicking skin cells.

  • A student stands in front of a red sunset backdrop, wearing the ALWAKIA jacket, a large, striking piece made entirely of shimmering bacterial nacre
  • A student stands arms wide against a red backdrop, wearing the wing-like ALWAKIA jacket with nacre feather sleeves.
  • Frontal view of the ALWAKIA jacket with a lens blur effect suggesting upward motion, like a take-off.

  • A pipette injects a drop of bacterial cells onto a 3D-printed scaffold in a petri dish.
  • A bioreactor setup with two acrylic basins, a media pump, and an oxygen tube for mineralization experiments.
  • Removing the biomineralized scaffold from the bioreactor

Research and process

  • Black and white wide shot of a craftsman machine-sanding a piece of nacre in a workshop.
  • Close-up of a bioprinter needle extruding material onto a petri dish to form a scaffold.
  • Black and white collage showing different stages of the ALWAKIA jacket’s making process in the atelier.

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ALWAKIA | Bacterial-Nacre Resistance Armour

Inspired by the violent suppression of student-led protests against genocide in Gaza, ALWAKIA (Arabic for The Protectress) responds to a world where resisting injustice is life-threatening. ALWAKIA is a statement piece of protective gear, designed for student act...

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