Textiles are a part of almost every facet of modern life, from the clothes we wear to the ​fibres that make up next-generation materials. Unfortunately this ubiquity comes at an increasingly high environmental toll, with current manufacturing processes using large quantities of petrochemicals, heat energy and unsustainably sourced raw materials. Nature offers great inspiration for new textiles possibilities, with none more impressive than the spider - combining only two compounds, water and protein, to make a solution that can be spun into high-performance textile fibres, at room temperature, without toxic chemicals and with water the only by-product.