Textile Research & Development

Current Project: Upcycled Biocellulose from Kombucha Production

in the Portland Metro Region and Greater Oregon with plans to work our way into Washington State where community connects and logistics allow.

We are developing a sustainable textile from a food waste here in Oregon, with the goal of achieving uses across sectors including fashion, food science, and agriculture/silviculture cropping systems. SuSeLi believes that because of Oregon’s kombucha brewery industry, there is potential to grow bacterial cellulose as a regional specialty .

What is Kombucha Pellicle Textile?

“Kombucha Pellicle Textile” is the result of drying a mass of acetobacter cell matter that self-forms a fairly perfect biopolymer of cellulose. The cellulose chains have potentially reactive hydroxyl groups exposed at the ends of their hydrocarbon structures. We are using a variety of non-toxic treatments to research traditional and novel uses of the textile.

We are a car free company and currently we are picking up pellicle via trimet or zipcar in the Portland Trimet area.

Are you an innovator who wants to Collaborate?

Please reach out with inquiries to fairtrade@suselirugs.com and to follow our progress live on social media, please visit the instagram account @suseli_biotextiles

Officially on the Scene! – SuSeLi llc in the Oregon DEQ Newsletter

It is our great honor to be featured in the upcoming year end newsletter by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, who paid a visit to our lab this past summer. You can download and view the article here.

Next UP: Innovation for Upcycled Food Processing Byproducts

We are working on a procedure to turn food processing byproducts into useable sugars to augment the current supply of pellicle. We are experimenting with using custom enzymes produced by probiotic primary fermenters. This project together with the support of Happy Mountain Kombucha and Portal Beverage Lab

Restoration Work

using the textile for Weed Suppression with Sitka Center for Art and Ecology

How it all Began

SuSeLi LLC is proud to have been an official featured artist of Portland Textile Month, at the completion of its seven week residency at Portland State University in the Textile Arts Department. We also had a fashion exhibit at mk gallery and held a public workshop on PSU campus in Fariborz Maseeh Hall. We are deeply grateful to the department and to the guidance and support of Professor Alison Heryer, who made time and space for the work.

Community Art Interfaces

Our next project is https://ceti.institute/event/environmental-soundscapes/

We recently worked on #ceticonstellations, celebrating 100 years of quantum entanglement, find out more at https://ceti.institute/event/constellations-entanglement/ and https://quantum2025.org/