Shroom

The global pandemic’s DIY renaissance fuelled both a foraging frenzy and an at-home growing craze. Find them used as inspiration by top designers in the world of high fashion, with fungi mycelium as a base for vegan leathers. In the health and wellness realm, they are bottled and capsuled with plentiful purported benefits.

In our homes, fungi are the new flowers and we’re decorating with an organic aesthetic of nature motifs. One day soon we could be insulating our houses with fungi-derived materials. The mighty powers of mushrooms are even being deployed in bioremediation to clean up after disasters like wildfires and oil spills.

More than a trippy trend

From portobello, to porcini the desire has been sparked to investigate the fungus among us. We’re much more into Cottagecore than ever before – harnessing a simple, slow-life spirit, surrounding ourselves with the aesthetics of an organic, traditional lifestyle. Mushrooms are a symbol of growth and renewal, a much needed sentiment after emerging from the chaos of covid, and a place of departure for designers such as Stella

McCartney’s eco-conscious outlook started from her brand’s inception, committing to never using leather, feathers, fur or skins. She has now taken her mycelium interest from underground and launched her first mushroom-made handbag. Other fashion icons are digging deep and finding the fun in fungi, as seen in Bella Hadid’s magic mushroom earrings and Rodarte’s silky, shroom-print slip dress.

There’s room for mushrooms

Escapism. We were mostly forced into perfecting this, as we stayed indoors and learnt how to make our own kombucha, pickles, and sourdough loaves. This escapism has found a much more creative setting, and we are curating our interior spaces to reflect the whimsical, mysterious theme of mushrooms. Harry Heisman, a New York-based designer has incorporated these psychedelic species into a mesmerising array of stools, table objects and printed wallcoverings. With their coral-like appeal, they make for beautiful homeware pieces. Lighting is having its fair share of the interior trend limelight with dreamy pastel mushroom lamps filling up the feeds of social media influencers, en masse.

Foraging-forward food

We want more spore. Trendsetters in the health and wellness sector are chugging Chaga mushroom lattes, and swapping meaty meals for mushroom and other plant-forward alternatives. For the fourth consecutive year, mushrooms have been named a top trend by food industry trend spotters. Capping the 2022 trend forecast season, The New York Times recently named mushrooms the “Ingredient of the Year”. The full potential of fungus is being realised by chefs, both in top restaurants and humble homes, as a result of their ubiquitous umami flavour. With over 10 000 varieties available comes a vast array of texture and flavour, with the overcooked button variety being scrapped. The rise of grilled oyster mushrooms, lion’s mane, enokis and moreish morels are now taking centre stage.

Requiring unique conditions to thrive, farmers are fine-tuning their growing processes, making indoor growing a suitably sustainable option. And you don’t have to be an expert. Companies such as Cape Town’s themushroombox.shop produce six oyster mushroom kits to grow in the comfort of your own home.