Mycelium Leather
Grown, Not Made
Mycelium is a thin, root-like fiber network fungi use to feed themselves. Turns out, these fibers can be grown into a material that behaves a lot like leather. This excerpt covers what mycelium leather is, how it's grown, what properties it has, where its limits are, and why it matters beyond just leather goods.
To understand mycelium leather, it helps to understand how real leather is made first. Real leather comes from the cattle industry where it goes through a chemical-heavy process needed to keep it from decomposing and work it into something soft, flexible, and usable for goods. It's a slow process from raising an animal to maturity to treating the hide. Before any of it becomes a finished product, it also goes through strength testing to confirm it can actually hold up under real use, the same standard leather has always been measured against.
Mycelium leather skips that process entirely. It starts with waste sawdust from a local woodmill, which gets steam-cleaned and mixed with mushroom spores. From there, the mycelium grows through the sawdust and weaves itself together naturally, no machines involved. It only takes a few days to form into a full sheet, and it's grown in trays under indoor-farm conditions, meaning every part of the growing environment is controlled and each sheet can be made to spec. From the thickness and pliability to the softness and color, each sheet can be customized according to the client. And because it's still a living material, no two sheets come out identical. Each one has its own grain, the same way real leather does. You get a manufactured level of precision without losing the individuality.
On performance, mycelium fabric is breathable, flexible, and durable and doesn’t rely on synthetic chemicals. It also uses less than a tenth of the water most tanning processes require in real leather production. Before it's used in any product, it goes through strength testing to confirm it holds up under real use.
Where it gets more complicated is scale. Since it's farmed and grown to order, output depends on how many trays are on demand, not just how fast a single sheet can grow. For example, fast fashion and the automotive industry have leaned on plastic for years because it can be produced almost without limit. But mycelium won't be able to compete with that unless people are willing to get through the learning curve of working with mycelium. The material can be produced almost without a cap, but only if a company is willing to invest into growing it at that level.
What matters most from a design standpoint is that mycelium isn't limited to leather goods. It's already being used for sculptural work and architectural objects, and that's really the point. This is a grown custom-spec that is texturally unique and is being used for sculptural and architectural work currently.
This just touches the topic briefly, but if you’d like to learn in-depth about how mycelium outperforms animal leather in strength and environmental impacts, check out this article.
EXPLORING THE IIDA CAREER CENTER
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Be sure to check in with the IIDA New England event calendar for upcoming events offered in our community. Here's a sneak peek at some upcoming events:
IIDA NE Sunset Social Cruise on the Harbor // Thursday, August 13
IIDA NE Farm to Table Sustainability Event // Wednesday, August 26
IIDA NE Volunteer Fair // Wednesday, September 9
IIDA NE Art Uncorked // Wednesday, September 23
Designer Monologues the Podcast from IIDA New England with your host Brett Berry is officially LIVE! On this show, we share the stories behind the design of repurposing, developing, and reshaping our communities. Incubated from the minds and skills of New England’s talented design community, you’ll hear how visual inspiration can come from nature, our history, current trends, and more as we take you on a story-telling journey behind design.
Check out all of the episodes here!
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