anomalia’s mycomuseum exhibits mycelium as compostable blocks & recyclable leather chair

a show that exhibits the future of fungi, the collection also includes a garment with fine mycelial threads added to the base of the clothing.

Suyash Sawant edited by matthew burgos December 28, 2024 4 min

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anomalia’s mycomuseum with mycelium furniture and designs

Suyash Sawant and Bhakti Vinod Loonawat of Anomalia curate MycoMuseum, a show that exhibits the future of fungi and the use of mycelium with biodegradable blocks and recyclable leather for furniture like chairs. The pieces are exhibited during the Conscious Collective event by the Godrej Design Lab Initiative in Mumbai, India between December 13th and 15th, 2024. In the event, Anomalia showcases some mycelium furniture and material designs.

These include the biodegradable blocks and wall system named MycoBlox by MYCL Bio and ROHA; the clothing MycoCore by Anomalia and fashion designer Anushé Pirani in collaboration with Mycl Bio; the MycoLiving textile by Mycl Bio’s Mylea which is the recyclable leather grown from mycelium; and the packaging design by ROHA and student work from the L. S. Raheja School Of Architecture. Anomalia collaborates with these designers whose research also focuses on using and growing mycelium for furniture, material, and textile purposes.

Anomalia MycoBlox | all photos © MYCL Bio, courtesy of Anomalia, unless stated otherwise

Lightweight and stackable blocks from fungi

In Anomalia’s MycoMuseum, mycelium as furniture and textile takes center stage. Visitors to the event see MycoBlox, which is a wall system made of the mushroom root structure. The research platform draws from the agricultural waste to grow the MycoBlox, which is a series of lightweight, stackable, and load-bearing blocks.

They’re low-carbon enough to reduce carbon emissions and construction waste and completely biodegradable, so they ‘rejoin’ the earth’s resource cycle at the end of their lifetime. Anomalia grows MycoBlox in five-part molds, and the design team has produced these pieces in collaboration with Mycl Bio.

Anomalia MycoBlox at the production facility at MYCL, Mycotech Lab in Bandung, Indonesia

Recyclable leather for chair made of mycelium

The MycoLiving chair comes next at MycoMyseum, wrapped with recyclable leather made of mycelium. The furniture piece uses Mycl Bio’s mycelium-based leather called Mylea, resulting in a chair that’s fully recyclable. The team imagines mycelium as an accessible material for daily use, which is a similar perspective brought to life by MycoCore.

Here, Anomali, Anushé Pirani, and Mycl Bio transform mycelium into a garment that can be woven as a dress or piece of clothing. They repurpose the cutouts from shaping the gills into fine mycelial threads to add depth and texture to the base of the garment. All these furniture and material designs are showcased at Anomalia’s MycoMyseum during the Conscious Collective event in early December 2024.

each block weighs around 1.6 kilos and can take up to 1.5 tons of load

early prototyping stages of Anomalia MycoBlox

'Anomalia MycoBlox' assembly at MycoMuseum exhibit | photo © Bhushan Gavas, courtesy of Anomalia — ‘Anomalia MycoBlox’ assembly at MycoMuseum exhibit | photo © Bhushan Gavas, courtesy of Anomalia

MycoMuseum Exhibit at Conscious Collective 2024 | photo © Bhushan Gavas, courtesy of Anomalia

Anomalia’s MycoMuseum exhibits mycelium as furniture and designs

anomalia-mycomuseum-mycelium-biodegradable-blocks-recyclable-leather-chair-designboom-ban — ‘Anomalia MycoBlox’ at the Godrej Desing Lab’s Concious Collective event | photo © Bhushan Gavas, courtesy of Anomalia

MycoLiving Furniture by Anomalia and MycoCore Apparel by Anushé Pirani at the MycoMuseum Exhibit at Conscious collective 2024 | | photo © Bhushan Gavas, courtesy of Anomalia and Anushé pirani — MycoLiving Furniture by Anomalia and MycoCore Apparel by Anushé Pirani at the MycoMuseum Exhibit at Conscious Collective 2024 | photo © Bhushan Gavas, courtesy of Anomalia and Anushé pirani

MycoCore Apparel by Anushé Pirani | photo © Bhushan Gavas, courtesy of Anomalia and Anushé pirani

MycoLiving uses mycelium-based textile as alternative leather material for chairs — MycoLiving uses mycelium-based textile as an alternative leather material for chairs

anomalia-mycomuseum-mycelium-biodegradable-blocks-recyclable-leather-chair-designboom-ban2 — MycoBlox, a series of lightweight, stackable, and load-bearing blocks

MycoCore Apparel by Anushé Pirani in collaboration with MYLEA by Mycl Bio MycoCore | photo © Bhushan Gavas, courtesy of Anomalia and Anushé pirani first prototype of MycoLiving: The Shroom Edit by Anomalia | photo © Saakshi Sawant, courtesy of Anomalia

project info:

name: MycoMuseum

research platform: Anomalia | @anomalia.in

designers: Bhakti Vinod Loonawat and Suyash Sawant of Anomalia, Anushé Pirani | @bha_lu, @suyash_ar.des, @anushepirani

production leads: Ronaldiaz Hartantyo and Robbi Zidna

collaborations and production partners: MYCL Bio (Bandung, Indonesia), MYLEA (Bandung, Indonesia), Anushé Pirani (Mumbai, India), and Roha Bio (Chennai, India) | @mycl.bio, @mylea_mycl, @roha_bio

initiative: Godrej Design Lab | @godrejdesignlab

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