SquidKid

I designed SquidKid, a bioluminescent squid plushie built around Vibrio fischeri, a bacterium that lives in natural symbiosis with the Hawaiian bobtail squid. Hugging and caring for the plushie triggers quorum sensing, which makes the bacteria glow in response to the child's attention.

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The project is a hands-on tool for teaching ecological empathy earlier than most education currently does. The same type of profound care that we are taught to hold for other humans, should also apply to the beautiful ecological systems that our world depends on. Kids often don't grasp the scale of the environmental crisis until college, if they grasp it at all, so I wanted an object that makes the intimate concept of mutualism physical for a five-year-old.

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Along with a prototype of the squid plushie, I created graphics for the project including a slide deck to present, illustrated a children's book, and worked in the lab to cultivate the bacteria.

Caring for the plushie ties a bacterium's wellbeing directly to a child's attention, teaching them that humans are participants in ecological relationships, not separate from them. If children can grow up learning the importance of such systems, then I hope that one day we can all care enough to want to make a difference.

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SquidKid was a top 8 international finalist and won the Outstanding Display Prize at the Biodesign Challenge Summit 2025 at MoMA.