Mycelium

  • Alistair Moncur
A fungus spawned from mushrooms, Mycelium is a mass branching network which acts as a recycling system as it breaks down and fertilises organic materials.

When a sample of a mushroom is taken and the mycelium is harnessed to grow intriguing properties and possibilities are born. The rapid growth of the mycelium and the minuscule network that it generates means that when the substrate is mixed with other organic materials such as wood chips. The mycelium acts as a natural adhesive which binds all the chips together, growing to form a robust, environmentally sound mycelium brick.
Building molds for the mixture to grow in, allows for particular shapes to be formed meaning particular purposes for the material can be met. Examples such as packaging offer huge potential as a replacement to polystyrene. Not only is the substance grown, meaning the energy used is less, but the material itself is bio-degradable and therefore can be placed in a compost bin as it returns to nature.

Building molds for the mixture to grow in, allows for particular shapes to be formed meaning particular purposes for the material can be met. Examples such as packaging offer huge potential as a replacement to polystyrene. Not only is the substance grown, meaning the energy used is less, but the material itself is bio-degradable and therefore can be placed in a compost bin as it returns to nature.

To explore this material further I sought to grow mycelium myself, forming the material into various molds.