Reclaiming Protein: From Nutrient Myth to Design Medium

Why the word “protein” has been hijacked, and why it’s time to rethink it through the lens of design.

Say the word protein and most people think of food.
Meat. Shakes. Muscles. Gym culture.

Maybe even a smoothie label shouting high-protein! in bold letters.

But that’s not a protein. At least, not the kind we need to be talking about.

The word protein wasn’t born in a gym. It was proposed in 1838 by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius (communicated in a letter to Dutch chemist Gerardus Johannes Mulder) and derived from the Greek proteios, “of the first rank” or “primary.”

Nineteenth-century scientists already saw proteins as life’s fundamental substance, and through the 20th century biology confirmed their status as the cell’s molecular engines, performing its physical, chemical and structural work.

Proteins form the fibers of your muscles, yes. But they also regulate your immune system, transmit signals in your brain, form the pigments in jellyfish, and digest your breakfast. In short: they do life.

Yet sometime in the late 20th century, the story changed.

The rise of fitness culture, processed food, and nutritional branding redefined protein as a commodity: measured in grams, optimized for consumption, marketed with simplicity.

Protein powders. Protein bars. Protein pancakes. The complex molecular actor became a simplified marketing claim. It’s no surprise that the public mental model of protein shrank to one word: muscle.

This flattening is more than a semantic quirk—it’s a missed opportunity. Because just as the cultural lens narrowed, scientific and technological breakthroughs were expanding what proteins could be.

In the last two decades, we’ve begun to understand proteins not just as products of biology, but as designable entities.

We can now predict their shapes (thanks to tools like AlphaFold), generate novel structures using AI, and engineer them for specific functions, from breaking down plastic to sensing pollutants, from binding to viruses to forming new kinds of bio-based materials.

And this is where design enters.

Designers have long worked with materials: wood, glass, plastic, metal.

But proteins? Proteins are programmable, evolveable materials. They are responsive, self-assembling, and deeply contextual. Unlike passive materials, proteins operate within systems.

They fold based on environment, function in concert with other molecules, and adapt through selective pressure.

To work with proteins as a designer is to engage in a conversation with complexity. You’re not just choosing a form, you’re guiding a behaviour. You’re not just building an object, you’re shaping a living function.

As we face urgent challenges, from healthcare to sustainability to planetary regeneration, proteins are poised to become one of the most important design mediums of this century.

Not because they’re trendy. But because they’re powerful, flexible, and deeply entangled with life itself.

The designers of the future won’t just sketch or sculpt.
They’ll code proteins, tweak sequences, simulate folds, and co-create with biology and AI.

So perhaps it’s time we reclaim the word protein, not from the past, but for the future. Not as a food group, but as a foundational tool for biodesign.