“Bio-inclusive Design with Mycellium”
Mycelium, the reproductive part of fungi, has been used in design to assist in the fabrication of new bio-circular materials (myco-fabrication) for some years.
The experimental design and material research studio Aléa has expanded on this process by developing a unique method that utilizes mycelium and local waste substrates to grow objects in soil. Growing mycelium in soil, rather than in a sterile myco-fabrication lab, enables shared control with the organism and harnesses the potential of its regenerative capacities.
In this lecture, Miriam Josi and Stella Lee Prowse will provide an insight into their practice and current research project ‘Back to Dirt’ supported by FAIRE Paris and Pavillon d’Arsenal.
They will discuss the ethical considerations of working with living systems and how this inquiry can inform more reciprocal and integrated practices.
Miriam Josi (CH) and Stella Lee Prowse (AU) began exchanging ideas and working together during their studies in product design at Parsons New York. Bonded by their curiosity and tendency to find beauty in unexpected places, their practice explores growth, decay, waste, and material processes. They both completed a Master of Science in Nature Inspired Design at ENSCI – Les Ateliers in Paris.
Aléa’s work is situated at the intersections of design, biology and agriculture and aims to establish a deeper relationship between the natural and built environment. Their mission is to take a mindful approach to biodesign to avoid a trajectory of exploitation and control and to instead imagine new ways of making that interact, adapt and share control and benefits with the more-than-human.
