Mycelium
_Textiles
The project focuses on the development of mycelium (mushroom) eco-friendly textiles, grown using various fungal species and substrates, including agricultural and textile industry waste products. The study identifies species types, growth conditions, and plasticization methods for the generation of various bovine-leather textile substitutes. The myco-textiles investigate material opportunities that can contribute to the growing bio-economy whilst actively mitigating anthropogenic pollution from industry and human consumption. The work generates quantitative and qualitative data, as well as working prototypes for integration within the built environment.
The project is funded by a Collaborative Interdisciplinary Grant from the Office of Research Services (ORS) CU Denver.
A challenge of bio-textile production is often scaling products to meet real-world requirements. The bespoke method of large-scale sheet production opens up avenues for use in architectural applications. The pure mycelial mats are grown on a paste substrate and are then biologically joined via myco-welding where the hypha of the mycelium grow into one another to form a continuous sheet.
