aniela hoitink uses mushroom mycelium to weave dress

aniela hoitink uses mushroom mycelium to weave dress
(above) MycoTEX dress from all sides
all images courtesy of aniela hoitink

the world is dynamic, however, our textiles are not. they have been with us all our lifetime, but they do not seem to have changed much. in fact, we actually require them to remain exactly the same for as long as possible. nowadays our consumption rate is ever increasing and, as part of such disposable culture, we hardly repair anything. aniela hoitink aims to change the way we use textiles by altering or adding properties to textile, and investigating how we can and will use textiles in the future and what the related implications will be.

MycoTEX growing mycelium in textile

the initial purpose of ‘MycoTEX’ was to create a textile out of living material and to learn how to develop a real garment out of it. so far mycelium (the root of a mushroom) has been predominantly used in a solid state in combination with a substrate. therefore, aniela started by combining mycelium (and its peculiar properties) with textiles, in order to create flexible composite products. learning whilst researching, her goal turned into developing textiles consisting exclusively of pure mycelium. along the research process, she developed a method for retaining flexibility without using traditional textile materials.

MycoTEX making a textile

aniela’s motivation comes from the observation of ‘soft bodies’ species. such organisms grow by replicating themselves over and over again, following some sort of modular pattern. this led her to build the textile out of modules, a solution which consequently provided a number of important benefits. in fact, in such way repair and replacements of the garment are easy to perform and do not interfere with the look of the fabric. furthermore, the dress can be built three-dimensionally and shaped whilst being made, fitting the wearer’s wishes. thus, it is possible to create mycelium patterns, to adjust the length of the garment or for example to add elements (e.g. sleeves). this allows growth of just the right amount of needed material, eliminating every potential leftover/waste during the making process.

MycoTEX 3D shaping the textile

the explorations resulted in a dress, which can be adjusted to adapt to fashion, and can also be repaired when needed. once the garment is not in use anymore, it can easily be composted. in this way, it is possible to completely re-think future possibilities for fashion items.

the project was made possible thanks to universiteit utrecht, officina corpuscoli & mediamatic

MycoTEX dress 

MycoTEX dress close up

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.