Ricardo O’Nascimento
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Interactive research experience · 2025–2026

Biofibre Explorer

An augmented-reality learning experience that reconnects textile materials with the wet-spinning processes behind them.

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Bio-based textile samples presented in transparent cases on a display table
Physical samples anchor the augmented-reality experience in material evidence.
Project typeResearch · Tool / prototype
ThemesEmbodied & haptic interaction · Circular textiles & sustainability · Materials & making
FormAugmented-reality research experience
Year2025–2026
Material focusCellulose-based textile fibres
ContextRegenerative Fashion Hub

01 · Proposition

From finished fabric back to process

Biofibre Explorer makes the transformation of cellulose into a textile fibre available as an encounter rather than an abstract supply-chain fact.

Visitors begin with physical bio-based samples and use a phone to reveal a layered AR demonstration of wet spinning. The digital experience sits beside the material, allowing process knowledge and sensory inspection to reinforce one another.

The project asks how immersive learning can support material literacy, curiosity and more informed participation in textile circularity.

A visitor holding a phone over the Biofibre Explorer display
AR content is accessed in the same space as the textile samples.
Wet-spinning equipment in a textile materials laboratory
The experience translates a specialist wet-spinning process for public learning.

02 · Experience

Material, overlay, understanding

  1. 01

    Inspect

    Visitors first encounter samples made from cellulose-based feedstocks.

  2. 02

    Reveal

    A mobile AR layer demonstrates how a wet-spinning system transforms material into fibre.

  3. 03

    Connect

    Origins, process, applications and circular possibilities can be considered together.

03 · Reflection

Learning is part of material attachment

Making production visible can change a sample from an anonymous surface into evidence of a system.

Evaluation focused on learning, material origins and applications, circular practices, and dimensions of wellbeing including competence, playfulness and attachment. Participant feedback also pointed to the value of closer views and more step-by-step control.

Hybrid

Physical samples and digital process explanation remain co-located.

Accessible

Laboratory knowledge is translated for non-specialist audiences.

Circular

The material is framed through both origin and possible future life.

Credits & archive

Project record

Research and design
Ricardo O’Nascimento, Bruna Petreca, Roberta Morrow, Christopher Dawes, Miriam Ribul, Sameer Rahatekar and Sharon Baurley
Research context
Textiles Circularity Centre / Royal College of Art

References

Open-access research record ↗

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