What if the objects in our homes could sense, shift, and adapt like living things?

Payonke explores this possibility through active, hygromorphic materials that contain Bacillus subtilis spores—probiotic bacteria that respond to moisture by changing shape, much like pinecones opening in the rain.

Rooted in the tradition of pająki ludowe—Polish folk mobiles once believed to bring prosperity into the home—this project reinterprets the craft using living materials to create responsive, interlocking forms. These structures function as natural indicators of indoor humidity, encouraging us to rethink our living spaces as adaptive, health-conscious ecosystems.

By viewing microbes not as threats but as collaborators, Payonke proposes a new design language—one in which materials possess their own agency and inert objects transform into dynamic systems that shape-shift alongside us, turning our homes into spaces of ongoing visual interaction between human and microbial life.