By Camila Rua - Translated by Lorena Gómez

 

At Universo MOLA Fashion Week 2025, 12 Latin American brands presented their collections. One of them was Pinsón, a Colombian brand that produces biomaterials. Their runway show was a full sensory experience, showcasing the unique fusion between natural sciences and fashion. It also marked the official launch of the brand’s first collection.  

To talk about the brand, its story, its unique materials and processes, we interviewed Luisa Pinzón, its founder, who sees science as an opportunity to make fashion sustainable, and fashion as a way to make science more accessible.  

Tell us about Pinsón… 

My name is Luisa Pinzón, but Pinsón isn’t just my surname — it’s my ancestry, and it’s also one of the bird species Darwin used to study evolution. So we borrowed that word. Pinsón is a young brand rooted in the research of both traditional and ancestral knowledge, as well as scientific knowledge, based on my profession as a microbiologist. At Pinsón, we create biomaterials for the fashion, design, interior decoration, and architecture industries.

 

How did you start working at the intersection of fashion and natural sciences?

This story began with a question I asked myself in 2016: How could I bring science closer to the general public? I’ve always loved design, but I chose to study a scientific career, microbiology. A pain point in my childhood made me gravitate toward the fashion and textile world, as I struggled to find clothing options for my body type. That led me to work closely with seamstresses and textiles. In 2018, I entered the Biodesign Challenge, an international competition where universities and students present projects to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. There, they work with concepts like biomimicry and the fusion of design, fashion, and biodesign. That’s when I thought: Wow, this is revolutionary!

 

At the start of 2024, I asked myself: What do I want to do with my life? What do I want to propose to the world? I remembered that old question and thought: Maybe this project of connecting science and design can be my life’s project. So why not dedicate much of my life to answering that question? That’s when I took action and started working on Pinsón.

 

What was the core idea you wanted to express in your brand’s first collection? 

In this collection, I wanted the audience to truly understand the fusion of science and fashion. So I accompanied the runway show with macro lab process videos, like bubbles forming when water is poured into a container. Through these simple, often overlooked processes, I tried to bring people into this micro world, highlighting details we rarely notice, though they exist around us daily. It was about reclaiming these elements so the audience could feel as if they were inside a research lab. 

 

Also, the soundtrack was very intentional — mixing music with audio of scientific terms like microscopy, biomaterial, sustainability, test tube, Petri dish, etc. Since this was the brand’s official launch, I wanted to give it a strong scientific identity, making it artistic but visibly and audibly rooted in science.

What was shown in the collection?

The idea of the runway wasn’t to restrict the material to clothing only. One key thing I wanted was for people to imagine where these materials could go. That’s why I didn’t focus on making actual garments. I have developed some pieces like bags and accessories, but I chose not to show them on the runway to leave things open to the audience’s imagination. 

 

What materials did you use in this first collection?

For this first collection, I mainly worked with urban waste materials — things you can find in daily life, not just industrial waste. In the collection I presented at Universo MOLA Fashion Week, the primary materials were coffee grounds, avocado pits, and eggshells.

 

We’re also experimenting with soursop seeds, natural pigments like mangosteen peel. So we’re exploring different kinds of materialities to put them at the service of industries like fashion and design.

 

What’s the process for creating these materials? 

The scientific component always begins with something simple — an exploratory question, using the scientific method as a foundation, proposing hypotheses, and trial and error. Beyond following the scientific method, we’re very responsible about choosing raw materials, as we aim to create materials that make a positive impact. We avoid materials that might compromise resources like food security and always try to work with byproducts from other industries to give them a second life, following the principles of a circular economy. Many designers are currently working with biomaterials, but in my case, given my background, I’m also integrating microorganisms, incorporating fungi and bacteria into the process.  

 

How do these materials biodegrade? 

One of the challenges with biomaterials is their lifespan and the care required for the pieces because these materials are designed to reintegrate easily into the environment. So, with either home composting or industrial composting, it’s completely safe to say that the biomaterials I’m currently working with will biodegrade. They can also break down with changes in temperature and relative humidity, so you have to consider many variables because these materials are intentionally designed to return to the cycle.

 

What challenges did you face in producing the collection? 

In general, making biomaterials can be demanding, especially in processing the waste. A major challenge I faced was drying the materials because Bogotá’s climate is cold and often very humid, and the relative humidity in my workspace is quite high. All of these factors slow down the drying process. Many times, instead of the material being ready, it gets colonized by other living beings — bacteria and fungi — because these materials are essentially alive. 

 

Imagine processing a bunch of coffee grounds you collected from cafés, and as you accumulate it, it starts to spoil. This kind of thing can be stressful, especially when the process is very artisanal, like in my case, where it’s not yet industrialized. 

 

What was your favorite piece in the collection?

There’s one piece that looks like a worm — it was really interesting because I originally planned for it to be worn a different way on the runway. But in the end, the way I presented it made me really happy because it looked like a shield, like a warrior’s. It was also a challenge to make because all the shapes were hand-cut with a scalpel.

Another favorite was a hollowed piece where the model’s head wasn’t visible and the inside had lights, to show people it could be used in other contexts, like a lamp. And there was another piece I loved: feather-like shapes made from eggshells. I used 3D-printed molds for those and turned them into little gifts for the press.

What did participating in Universo MOLA Fashion Week mean for your brand? 

For me, being part of a community that shares so many values and principles is the main reason to be involved with Universo MOLA as an institution. On the other hand, Universo MOLA Fashion Week was an incredible opportunity to have meaningful conversations and meet people working from different perspectives, especially in local communities.

For me, the whole week can be summed up in one word: believe. In many senses — believe in myself, in my brand, in sustainability, in the idea that it’s possible to do things differently, to build a better world, and in the amazing people I met.

 

Also, I made a dear friend from Uruguay, like a kindred spirit from a past life. It was a last-minute connection because of a garment I wore on the runway — a piece by the brand Valezero with a phrase on the back. I felt that phrase perfectly captured my brand’s essence, connected to roots, ancestry, and knowledge. I didn’t know her beforehand — we became friends because I lent her some hangers. Then I saw her piece, and it was white — I wanted something white too. I was originally going to wear a lab coat to give off that scientific vibe, but when I saw this white garment with that phrase, I had to have it. So it was a beautiful connection between projects, and in the end, it’s what I wore on the runway.