Co-creating with nature by using mycelium cellulose as a replacement for short-term-use plastic products.
Long description
Unlocking nature’s potential to co-create by designing packaging molds to be filled by mycelium thus creating completely natural biodegradable packaging.
In response to the problem of our ever-increasing plastic waste, we would like to explore a nature-based solution available in abundance. By using this new product we can replace single- or short-use items with containers that will compost much more quickly than bio-polymers and do so in a 100% clean and natural cycle.
The new material will not only minimize our waste, it will also be a biological filter contributing to the re-balance of our ecosystem.
Mycelium, an essential part of the planet’s ecosystem, acts as a natural filter, removing industrial toxins from the soil, including pesticides, chlorine, dioxin, and PCBs. It is fundamental in creating new and fertile soil.
Our first experiment focused on using a simple recipe of bacteria, yeasts, and other microorganisms which produced cellulose through a fermentation process in two weeks. In the second round of our experiment, we grew the cellulose into more complex forms including a plastic egg container.
This concretely demonstrated that a no-waste product could naturally grow into a design pattern. After the design pattern is grown it can be formed into a countless number of three dimensional objects. Additional experiments focused on adding natural dyes and textural variety, such as watermarks and weaving, to further increase the already innumerable new product ideas.
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