Innovators are turning to fungi to replace less environmentally friendly materials.
Fungi are peculiar organisms. Neither plant nor animal, they have their own kingdom, and play an important role in the decomposition of organic matter. There is a widespread perception that fungi, such as mildews, yeasts and mushrooms, are dangerous but some scientists and innovators are trying to change this perception by using fungi to create everyday objects. Not only are fungi readily available in nature but they’re also sustainable and have the potential to replace less environmentally friendly materials, such as plastic. Is fungus the material of the future?
Designer Maurizio Montalti asked himself this very question during his studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. ‘It became apparent that fungi are the great recyclers of the natural world,’ says Montalti. As a student, he developed an interest in ways of producing materials from alternative sources. Realizing fungi’s hidden potential, but not having a background in biology, he contacted Han Wösten, a professor of microbiology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In the years since, they have developed a method of growing fungi in a controlled environment that makes it a sustainable alternative to materials like plastic, rubber, wood and leather. With a goal of sharing their work with the public, they decided to stage an exhibition that included an array of everyday objects created from fungi, including chairs, lampshades and slippers. By allowing visitors to interact with each piece by picking it up and discovering that it was both firm and light, their hope was that people would walk away with a better understanding of fungi’s potential as a sustainable material.
In order to understand exactly how Montalti and Wösten use fungi to create these objects, it is necessary to understand the composition of these organisms. The vegetative part of fungi is called mycelium, and it consists of multiple long, thread-like fibers. The mycelium is what Montalti and Wösten use to make their sustainable items. An important part of the ecosystem, mycelium breaks down organic matter along with toxic substances, such as pesticides, and also filters water.
In a laboratory process, Montalti and Wösten let fungi degrade farm waste such as straw. This results in mycelium that is similar in strength to plastic. Once enough mycelium has formed, Montalti and Wösten take the mass and put it into a mold which retains humidity and forces it to take on a specific shape. Once the mycelium fills out the mold - a process that typically takes several weeks, depending on the size of the mold - the formed object is fired in an oven, which kills the fungi and stops it getting any bigger. In their work, Montalti and Wösten often use oyster mushrooms, which not only thrive on dead plant materials but are non-toxic, unlike some other mushrooms.
Montalti first learned about mycelium after attending a workshop led by Eben Bayer, co-founder and CEO of Ecovative, a company in Albany, New York that develops and produces sustainable packaging and building materials using mycelium. Bayer began working with mycelium in order to find a replacement for the harmful adhesive used in building manufacturing. Ten years ago, he and his business partner, Gavin McIntyre, applied for a patent and eventually began commercializing their product. In the time since, they’ve introduced dozens of designers and artists around the world to mycelium and its potential as a sustainable material, even going so far as to market grow-it-yourself kits that consumers can use at home. ‘There are about 30 or 40 different designers and artists around the world who are doing projects with mycelium’ Bayer says.
Due to fungi’s natural qualities, mycelium-based objects aren’t meant to last forever, an issue that Montalti and Wösten are in the process of trying to resolve. ‘Mycelium is still an experimental material and by definition it is susceptible to degradation,’ Montalti says. He points out, however, that this doesn’t mean that items made with mycelium are subject to quick decay, unless the conditions for such degradation to occur are created, ‘such as a shift in humidity or an increase or decrease in temperature.’
To make mycelium more resistant to these shifts, Montalti and Wösten are trying to find a coating that can be applied to objects near the end of production. In addition to household products, they’re focusing on producing architectural materials such as panels and ceilings using their developed method. ‘For the future, our aim is that, 20 years from now you can buy anything you need for a construction project using fungus,’ Wösten says. He adds that materials made of mycelium, ‘would replace things like plastic, stones, and bricks’. Perhaps fungus really is the material of the future.