During the early days of the pandemic, Mecca McDonald, A&S ’21, discovered that resin jewelry was having a moment on TikTok. The longtime sustainability enthusiast wanted an earth-friendly alternative but couldn’t find one. She reached out to Mia Dunn, Engr ’21— a stylish chemical and biomolecular engineer she knew through a mutual friend—asking if Dunn wanted to work together on creating bioplastic jewelry from scratch.
For the next few months amid remote classes, the pair met at each other’s houses, embarking on a trial-and-error process to develop a biodegradable plastic that would have the same properties as resin. Some bioplastics are protein-based, but they ultimately landed on a starch-based recipe for their first prototype: an earring. Once they arrived at a semi-transparent plastic that evoked gelatinous candy, Mo.Na. Gems was born.
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