Mycelium Furniture & Surface Design | 2nd semester | Summer Semester 2024
In Central Europe, people are spending an average of 90 per cent of their time indoors. Therefore it is crucial to use natural and healthy materials that do not contain or emit harmful chemicals. To this end, we are investigating mycelium, the underground "root system" of fungi: How can prefabricated mycelium panels be processed, refined and used as surfaces in furniture design?
Students of the International Master of Interior-Architectural Design (imiad) at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences addressed this question in a seminar in the summer semester of 2024. During a factory tour of Mogu, a manufacturer of mycelium acoustic panels in Northern Italy, we were able to take a look behind the scenes of the still young but steadily growing production facility. We learned how scaling up to an industrial scale takes place and what challenges and opportunities can arise in the commercialization of mycelium products. The students then examined mycelium panels for mechanical workability and experimented with different natural coatings and colours to optimise the aesthetic qualities of the material.
Based on this, free-standing room dividers were designed using mycelium as the surface and wood for the construction.
The following criteria were at the forefront of the design:
"Design for disassembly" - connections should be free of glue, chemicals and fitting. Monomaterial wood joints and hinges were developed.
"Less is more" - As little material as possible and as much as necessary should be used. Shapes that arise naturally from the material and patterns that are created through modularity. The aim was to develop a filigree structure that focuses on mycelium as a sound-absorbing surface.
The seminar was an iterative process characterized by an interplay of surface experiments and design and was supervised by Prof. Diane Ziegler and Dipl.-Des. Melissa Acker.
Material sponsorship: Grown.bio and Mogu
Cooperation: Jennifer Gemünden, School of Colour and Design Stuttgatr-Feuerbach
