mushroom furniture by merjan tara sisman + brian mcclellan

mushroom furniture by merjan tara sisman + brian mcclellan

‘the living room project’ is an exploration into manufacturing objects from living materials. philadelphia university students merjan tara sisman and brian mcclellan investigated the potential of particular organisms and came across mycelium, the rooting system for mushrooms, which they found to be particularly suitable for their intended application of the production of furniture. through their research the young designers realized that they could control the growth of the organisms in a variety of different ways within fabricated moulds–a process which they like to think of as a zero energy form of 3D printing. the first results of their ongoing project are a chair (designed by sisman) and pendant lights (designed by mcclellan) which display the uncontrolled behaviour and patterns of nature in the practice of furniture design. as they continue, they will look to advance their concepts with updated moulds, as well as considering the employment of other natural living materials into their process.

detail of the mushroom composite used to produce the furniture

the furniture pieces are grown from mushrooms within a mould, rendering each one unique

the initial phase of  ‘the living room’ project consists of a chair and pendant lights

pendant lights

designers brian mcclellan and merjan tara sisman with their mushroom furniture

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