Pilz wachstum Mushroom growth

Myco Materials for Product Design

Passagen Interior Design Days 2025 · Designers Tower · Stoff-Pavillon Moeller · Cologne

15 January 2025, 6:00 p.m.

A lot has happened since natural fungal growth was discovered almost 20 years ago for the production of packaging, lighting and furniture. However, only rough product designs were usually possible. The designers first had to discover the properties of the previously unknown methods of biofabrication. With a wide range of experience in the use of fungal mycelium materials, the conditions seem to be changing.

Mycelium materials for transmission line loudspeakers

Mushroom mycelium is increasingly being used for complex molded part geometries in interior design. Examples include a crash helmet for cyclist, a rotor blade or a variety of furniture designs using so-called “myco materials”. The possibility of producing room acoustic solutions with mushrooms has also proven successful for rooms.

In the BMBF-funded research project “Mycoustics” Fraunhofer IWU is currently working on 3D printing high-quality transmission line loudspeakers with living fungal mycelium. The main aim is to specifically influence growth and to influence the acoustic properties by creating sound-reflecting and sound-absorbing qualities.

In his lecture in the Designer Towers program on the occasion of the Passagen Interior Design Days 2025 in Cologne, Prof. Dr. Sascha Peters will describe the possibilities for working with fungal mycelium materials and derive the potential for designers and architects.

Program Designers Tower 2025: www.designerstower.de
Program Passagen 2025: www.voggenreiter.com/passagen2025

photo: Diana Drewes