Introduction Sustainable design, or more specifically the rise of design focused around creating products with a lower impact on our environment is a (much needed) global trend (Ceschin, F., & Gaziulusoy, I, 2016). One of the ways in which designers are tackling this issue is by blurring the lines of science and design and taking on the role of the “active maker” of their raw materials rather than just the “passive recipient” of them. (Karana, et al, 2018). Some of the ways that designers are becoming “active makers” is with bio plastics made from food waste (Hitti, 2019) bacteria (Hitti, 2019) and algae (Morby, 2016). Unfortunately, while these projects are steps in the right direction, many of them are still in the early stages of development and are, at this stage, not scalable due to limited applications and the difficulty of processing the raw materials. (Kalia, et al 2011) Therefore, in this report I will be focusing on the more specific field of mycelium based growing design. Although this method of bio fabrication is relatively new, as seen in the cases discussed below the field has a lot of exciting potential. What excites me in particular is the ability of this method of bio fabrication to incorporate readily available waste material from essential non-fossil-based sources such as the food industry and the building industry. Due to the simple methods of manufacturing using the medium, production is easily scalable. Additionally, products created with mycelium based growing design are also compostable; offering the potential for a readily available material that will not pollute our planet.
Right Figure 3. Mycelium RH. Reprinted from Wikimedia Commons, by R. Hille, 2011, Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mycelium_RH_(3).jpg CC BY-SA 3.0
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