Fungi Mutarium

Livin Studio, in collaboration with Utrecht University, has developed a novel fungi food product grown on plastic waste, a prototype to grow it and culinary tools to eat it.

Fungi Mutarium, a project by Livin Studio in collaboration with Utrecht University, is a prototype that grows edible fungal biomass, mainly mycelium, as a novel food product.

Livin Studio, Fungi Mutarium. Photo © Paris Tsitsos for Livin Studio 2014

Fungi is cultivated on specifically designed agar shapes that the designers called FU. Agar is a seaweed based gelatin substitute and acts, mixed with starch and sugar, as a nutrient base for the fungi. The FUs are filled with plastics.

The fungi is then inserted, it digests the plastic and overgrows the whole substrate. The shape of the FU is designed so that it holds the plastic and to offer the fungi a lot of surface to grow on.

Its shape has been developed inspired by mushrooms and other plants in nature. The user should be reminded of harvesting mushrooms in the forest when harvesting the FUs.

Fungi Mutarium is a conceptual device that presents ongoing research and is currently not a commercially available product, but the studio is planning to kickstart a cutlery collection in early 2015.

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