The NEIPA, an oaty and hazy version of the IPA, was birthed from the craft beer movement in the US. Brewers in the beginning, were all about keeping the beer clear and filtered. Until one brewery, 'The Alchemist' and it's two brewers John Kimmich and Greg Noonan, began trying that assumption. They just attempted to make a hop full beer, and they noticed they could maximize the flavor by not filtering it. This haze, even while other people had noticed it was written off as a fault of this brewing method, and labelled a by product. However, we now know this slight adjustment of the process created a whole new style of beer. But it wasn't just that, it was also how the authors thought of beer. Their definition of it changed from everyone else's, because they started playing with the creation of beer, but also the assumptions of what it should be. Innovation like this is very hard for large companies as they have very specific goals and sales they must reach, and this is a big reason the craft beer movement has done so much. But I think this same innovation style could be applied to all sorts of biological products. Especially so for things that could be improved by the uniqueness of working with living organisms, like the production of pigments, and dying clothes.
Interesting things can come out of such tinkering even on the first try. Creation of something useful from such tinkering requires high amount of iteration. Like the craft beer movement has had so much iteration.
What beer you sippin these days?
Things that are wabisabi is characterized as becoming even more beautiful with age and time. An example are certain building materials that becomes weathered elegantly through centuries and becomes prized rather than something that's seen as requiring replacement.
WabiSabi is often a point of revelation for many westerners in crafts that prize long term thinking. Often architects and potters and the sort.
Re: your post, I think some of the best innovative work came out of just asking "why not?".