DIY MYCELIUM
Sustainable Material Fabrication for the Future's Industrial Designer
Problem
This project was borne of my desire to understand the role played by materiality in the making of an object. In the current social climate, a conscientious designer may wonder how “sustainable” an object actually is: Is the material of natural origin? Are the material and the object produced locally? What is the natural resource cost of creating this object? Is the end-of-life of the object planned?… The inquiries, doubts, and complexities are endless.
Answering these questions requires access to a wide variety of information from disparate sources. The intent of this project is to demonstrate one trajectory of addressing these inquiries by making my own sustainable material, and thus limiting the number of information sources.
Target User
There are a few users that would benefit from the outcome of this project:
1) A designer who wants an understanding of the process of creation of a material to be used in the project, with far more control over every element of the process than possible in mass production.
2) Those who are looking for an example of someone who made mycelium at home
Research & Conceptual Development
Mood board - Visual & Contextual Inspiration
Other "Sustainable" Leather Replacements Considered for Testing
Cactus Leather from Desserto
Bacterial Nanocelulose from Modern Synthesis
Seaweed leather from Studio Tång
Coffee Chaff by Emma Thyni
Coffee Leather by Alice Genberg
Mycelium Leather from Mylo Leather
Materials "ID Card" Style Inspiration, from Materials for Design by Chris Lefteri
Fabrication
Final Material
Takeaways
- Mycelium is very brittle
- Hard to use in visual applications - function > form
- Low - intensity in terms of use of natural resources - a little bit of water, a couple spores, and quite a bit of time
- Biodegradable, but only when exposed to moisture
Potential Next Steps
- Refine DIY mycelium making process
- Source samples of other plant-based materials to compare with the one I created
- Pick a widely-produced, easily accessible material & trace its origins to answer the questions outlined in the problem statement.