Two industrial design students successfully grew a lamp and chair from mushrooms.
The project guideline was to create something that was out of a living material.
As through any design process, after much thought, the pair stumbled upon mycelium.
Mycelium is essentially the roots of a mushroom.
So why mushrooms? There are numerous benefits to mycelium:
1. It takes minimal energy.
2. It is a renewable resource.
3. It is fire and heat resistant.
4. It is completely compostable.
On the other side of the spectrum, it is also a material that is unpredictable to work with. While the technology of mycelium is in the works of replacing things such as styrofoam packaging, few designers and manufacturers have experienced using this material in products.
These student describe their first attempts as messy. Contaminations were a problem in using this material.The purchasing of sterile, premixed, ready to use bricks became necessary.But even though the students were working with ready to use bricks, its still lead to messy conditions.
The design was considered more as a science project.
The designers started by trying to change the properties of mycelium, then focused on structure and form.
This material was found to be quite sturdy. No tooling or assembly was necessary.
As these designers continue to create, they will look to advance their concepts with updated molds, as well as, considering the use of other natural living materials into their design processes.
Mushrooms are no longer just a favorite pizza topping.
