This summer of independent learning has been very fulfilling overall. Firstly, under the guidance by Zuleika, I made a study plan for the summer, which mainly divided the whole programme into two parts: academic research and practical exploration.
My academic research is in three main areas, animal environmental protection, materials and biotechnology. Animal conservation and environmental protection served as the starting point for the entire project, and I focused on the history of the origins of these two movements as well as their contemporary status. Then, in order to better communicate my intentions to the audience, I researched soy protein and other fibre materials with a view to possibly creating a 3d model in the future. Finally, for the purpose of writing and applying for patents and other specialised documents, I have done extensive theoretical reading on all the technologies involved in bio-synthetic fur, including skin structure, stem cell technology and fur craftsmanship.
According to the timeline, my work in this summer was mainly expert interviews, US visits, and patent applications. Before independent learning started, I interviewed three stakeholders, Abbey, Kim and Will who represent opinions from fashion, marketing and investing area respectively. Then to realise my theoretical research, I went to Columbia University in the US to meet with a team of experts, and through the trip to the US, I reached a collaboration between my bio-synthetic fur and KC Lab, and through the conversation between Jason Zhou and Prof. Chandran, I had a deeper expectation of realising bio-synthetic fur. After returning to China, I met with several industry professionals, including Cao and Chen from fur and faux fur industry, and learnt about the current status of fur industry and the challenges it is facing. Finally, I applied for a patent for bio-synthetic fur in China, and through the co-operation with Zhongli & Partners, the patent has been written and is expected to reach the preliminary examination by the end of the year.
Lastly, I have spent most of my holiday working on this project, which has generally been going well. Admittedly some things have not gone as well as expected, such as the signing of the agreement with Columbia University and the financing consultancy, but all of this has been foreseen and is expected to be resolved in the near future!