Bellec & Fussner
“Mycelia Side Table, Iteration N° 01 + 01”, 2014
Mycelia grown bio-composite, galvanized steel.
Dimension: 18x 27 3/4 x 15 1/4 in. (? cm.)
Produced for Material Spectrum Lab, New York. Number one from the edition of 3. Table top grown grown in New York city, made from a pine-chip & sawdust bio-composite. Underside of table with leather tag laser with artist’s signatures and ““Variation N˚ 01 + 01, 2014/05/16/Collection Mycelia Side Tables/Edition Material Spectrum Lab, limitèe à 03 exemplaires.” Comprising of one table, the original prototype.
//////////////////////Introduction
Paul Stamets talk about how mushrooms can save the world inspired us to explore the properties of this bio-material. Prior to this talk we had also developed a slight ambient awareness towards the potential of mycelia as innovative bio material that has the potential to impact our planet. Without this awareness I do not think we would have fully committed ourselves to learning and discovering more about mycelia and its amazing properties. The inquiry into this medium has been extremely fun as we are considering to keep using the medium through the summer to see what sort of furniture we can grow. There are only a handful of people around the world actually using this material to grow furniture, one of the Phil Ross (coincidentally my brother’s professor at USF) is flagship artist. Any sort of aesthetically pleasing design that also performs structural integrity would be able to warrant a decent amount of attention from customer or potential media.
//////////////////////Setup
Brief: Grow a planar surface out of mycelia that will act as a table top surface. We then combined the mycelia with a found material, in this case we looked towards piping to create a foundation structure. Scroll over pictures to see action caption.
MYCELIA SETUP
- Purchasing steel supports
- Material spectrum
- Steel supports
- Mycelia culture arrested in bag
- One of our mold samples
- Breaking apart the growth culture
- Ironically we found a polystyrene container to grow the cultures in
- More mycelia pre breakdown and mix
- Mixing setup
- Adding sawdust to the mix
- Adding sawdust to the mix
- Mixing the sawdust and mycelia to create a higher resolution mold
- Mixing action shot
- We tried wax paper first but we soon found that this was not the best option
- Macro shot of mycelia growth, note that this growth only occurred on the outside.
- We opted for a plastic sheet to host the mycelia in the frame
- Pre mold filling
- Filling the mold
- Spreading the bio material inoculated with mycelia culture
- Distributing
- Spreading
- More Spreading
- Breaking up chunks for higher a higher resolution mold
- Applying even pressure and compacting the material down to create a denser growth structure
- Compressing
- Selling the mycelia
- We poked small holes into the film to allow for minimal air flow, no air flow would arrest mycelia growth
- Sealed and ready to go
MYCELIA_STATUS_MAY11
- Table mold after 9 days
- Close up
- Cutting mold open
- Checking on growth, mycelia hasn’t fully grown
- Edges show mycelia has grown through but density is not high
- Edges show mycelia has grown through but density is not high
- Edges show mycelia has grown through but density is not high
- Little growth in this corner
- Overall strength of the table top is not strong enough, roots have not grown through to support biomass
- We resealed this mold with more airflow.
- Control with increased airflow testing
- Root structure more developed
- Control seems like growth is rampant
- We decided to stop control after 9 days and proceed to dry and bake
- Control taken out, growth is not consistent
- Control taken out, growth is not consistent
- Fragmentation apparent indicating mycelia has not grown through the biomass
- The one white spot indicates dense mycelia growth
- Prepping for drying
- The one white spot indicates dense mycelia growth
- Slice indicates fragmentation in the growth.
- Transferring baking pan
- A section broke off
- Drying in the sun before baking
- For scale
- Some materials we are considering to use for mycelia sculptures
- Chosen materials to test for mycelia sculptures
- Chosen materials to test for mycelia sculptures
- Sealed mycelia culture, approximately 11 days sealed
- Sealed mycelia culture, approximately 11 days sealed
- Sealed mycelia culture, approximately 11 days sealed
- Making mycelia molds with piping
- Making mycelia molds with piping
- No oxygen in the sealed mycelia bag, arrests growth
- No oxygen in the sealed mycelia bag, arrests growth
- Making mycelia molds with piping
- Making mycelia molds with piping
- Making mycelia molds with piping
- Making mycelia molds with piping
- No oxygen in the sealed mycelia bag, arrests growth
MYCELIA_STATUS_MAY13
MYCELIA_STATUS_MAY14
- Control cooked
- High density mycelia
- High density mycelia
- Mid density mycelia
- Mid density mycelia
- Low density mycelia
- Low density mycelia
- Mid density mycelia
- Mid density mycelia
- Mycelia table fully grown – 12 days
- Mycelia table fully grown – 12 days
- Mycelia table fully grown – 12 days
- Mycelia table fully grown – 12 days
- New culture batch, after 3 days from bag
- New culture batch, after 3 days from bag
- Mycelia mold experiment
- Table drying tent
- Table drying tent
- Mycelia mold post bake
//////////////////////Conclusion
The biggest take away so far from our experimentations with mycelia as a medium is that it is undeniably an a resilient bio-material, a living structure. Conceptually if you think about growing structure, it’s quite mind blowing and a huge departure from current materials that are used to build, construct and complete things.
We have just finished growing the table, it has been baked and we will be posting another status update in the coming days. We are now growing another batch of mycelia culture to create several more side table forms and potentially other types of furniture.
The use of material in a larger context is subject to many potential roadblocks, at this point in time very little people are using this material. This is good for us (Ambroise & myself) if we want to release some work since we will be considered “innovators” in the field, however for a future with a more diverse array of building materials there need to be more people working with the material. That will be the difference between mycelia, hemp, bast fibers, and other bio materials.
Proprietary strains is an extremely short sighted measure, if the businesses and people that are committed to creating a more diverse material spectrum in our world then this knowledge should be opensource. At the end of the day, a hobbyist more often than not won’t setup a competing packaging company and try to undercut you.
Bibliography
- http://www.ecovativedesign.com/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWXZfaEjQbQ
- http://cleantechnica.com/2012/01/05/in-a-manufacturing-first-innovative-material-is-grown-by-fungi/
- http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/07/30/mushroom-house-ecovative-furniture-from-shrooms/
- http://www.madaboutmushrooms.com/mad_about_mushrooms/2013/05/in-the-market-for-new-furniture-how-about-furniture-constructed-from-mycelium.html