Modern Culture Labs

About:

Modern Culture Labs is a biodesign studio exploring the future of materials at the intersection of biology, design, and technology. We create regenerative solutions that respond to some of the most urgent challenges of our time—rethinking how we heal, build, and live by designing with living systems instead of against them. Rooted in ancient wisdom, design with modern aesthetics and catalyzed by contemporary science, our work draws from fermentation, biomaterials, and traditional craft to create tools for a more resilient and symbiotic future.

Our Story:

Modern Culture Labs was founded by Jonah Goodman, a designer, researcher, and systems thinker with a background as eclectic as the work itself. Jonah holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics from UC Santa Cruz and an MFA in Industrial Design from Parsons School of Design, where his work centered on the intersection of biology, sustainability, and material innovation.

Jonah’s journey into biodesign began not in a lab, but in the body. Diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at age 17, he became deeply attuned to the microbiome and its role in health and healing. His experience sparked a fascination with fermentation—not just as food, but as process, metaphor, and design tool. He later worked as a fermentation chef, where his hands-on exploration of living systems laid the groundwork for what would become a radical design philosophy.

That philosophy came to life at Parsons, where Jonah developed a series of products and systems made with, by and for both humans and bacteria. As such, Modern Culture Labs was born out of that momentum—not as a company with a single product, but as a creative research studio dedicated to cultivating regenerative technologies for health, agriculture, and beyond.