Mycelium-based composites result from the growth of filamentous fungi on organic materials such as agricultural waste streams. These novel biomaterials represent a promising alternative for product design and manufacturing both in terms of sustainable manufacturing processes and circular lifespan. This study shows that their morphology, density, tensile and flexural strength, as well as their moisture- and water-uptake properties can be tuned by varying type of substrate (straw, sawdust, cotton), fungal species (Pleurotus ostreatus vs. Trametes multicolor) and processing technique (no pressing or cold or heat pressing). The fungal species impacts colonization level and the thickness of the air-exposed mycelium called fungal skin. Colonization level and skin thickness as well as the type of substrate determine the stiffness and water resistance of the materials. Moreover, it is shown that heat pressing improves homogeneity, strength and stiffness of the materials shifting their performance from foam-like to cork- and wood-like. Together, these results demonstrate that by changing the fabrication process, differences in performance of mycelium materials can be achieved. This highlights the possibility to produce a range of mycelium-based composites. In fact, it is the first time mycelium composites have been described with natural material properties.

@en

Biotechnology offers exciting opportunities for novel and more sustainable alternatives for the design and manufacturing of products. One of the most promising approaches is the fabrication of materials from living organisms, such as fungi and bacteria. An increasing number of designers are engaging in this Growing Design practice, exploring the unique potentials of the grown materials for product design. In Growing Design, designers operate in interdisciplinary contexts, engaging in early stage material developments. Despite the widespread interest towards Growing Design, no systematic study has been conducted so far to understand how this practice unfolds and its contribution to the progression towards cleaner production. To this end, eight recognized professionals in the field were interviewed. The results illustrate how the conception of materials in design evolves when designers co-perform with biological organisms. This alters how the design process unfolds and the mindset adopted in design practice, shaping a novel, systemic vision on production and consumption practices. The paper further discusses the need for developing new sensibilities to face complex interdisciplinary problems in Growing Design and highlights the role designers can take in developing new materials for sustainable production.

@en

Diverse forms of material expressions can be achieved through practices that cross-fertilize biology and design. Growing Design is one such practice in which designers grow materials from living organisms, such as bacteria, algae or fungi. While this emerging practice may facilitate novel product ideas, the grown materials, to date, are often used in applications as surrogates for conventional materials. A recently introduced method, Material Driven Design (MDD) (Karana, Barati, Rognoli, & Zeeuw van der Laan, 2015), can support designers in finding novel application ideas for a material in development, by providing the ways in which the unique technical and experiential qualities of the material are emphasized and bridged in an appropriate and creative manner. The present paper explores the journey of a product design master’s student, who followed the MDD method through a six-month graduation project, in search of a product application idea for a material that is intentionally grown for design purposes, namely, mycelium-based materials. We provide a practical understanding of how the material-driven design process evolves when the material grows, and elaborate on the product application concept through the lens of materials experience, which is the main motivation for the research and design activities throughout the project. We further speculate on the tools and activities that the student incorporated in the design process to tackle uncertainty as to the micro-organism’s agency, its unique temporality, and the acceptance of the material in society.

@en

Designing for pleasurable and engaging product experiences requires an understanding of how users will experience the product, sometimes at a very abstract level. This focus on user experiences, rather than on the formal qualities of the product, might cause difficulties for designers in the materialization of design ideas. Designers need to navigate through several choices, shaping and refining the product qualities in order to elicit the intended experience. To support this process, we propose a tool, the Experience Map, guiding designers in the progressive transformation of an ‘experiential vision’ into tangible formal qualities, considering all the opportunities perceived by the different senses. The paper presents the results of two studies in which we verified the potential of the Experience Map, first in a workshop with design students and second in four design cases with professional designers. The results show that the Experience Map can provide a good structure to organize creative thoughts and progressively decrease the level of abstraction, particularly to support novice designers. It stimulates greater confidence and awareness of design decisions, while allowing the exploration of several design directions in parallel. These benefits, together with the visually stimulating layout and its ability to foster awareness on design decisions, make the Experience Map an effective tool to support experience-driven design practice, especially in the early phases of the creative process and in the educational context.@en

The exhibition will display ongoing activities as well as preliminary results of our joint STW/TTW project “Mycelium-based Materials for Product Design” (project nr. 14572), a collaborative endeavor between Design Academy Eindhoven, TU Delft and Utrecht University. Through an immersive setting, visitors will be able to get acquainted with both data and technical/experiential qualities of a range of mycelium-based composite materials, as well as to dive into the overall project’s content and process. @en

The possibility to fabricate materials from living organisms offers appealing advantages for product design, such as higher sustainability and an interesting novel aesthetics. Several designers are now ‘growing’ their own materials. Despite the large interest shown, this emerging material practice is still scarcely understood in design literature. The aim of this paper is to shed light on what it means to design with growing organisms as collaborators, identifying the defining traits of this novel, designerly way of
‘doing materials’. To do so, we first compare this specific approach to the approaches of others working in the intersections of biology and design. In this way, we outline the boundaries of Growing Design, defining its unique characteristics. We then provide detailed descriptions of three classes of Growing Materials: fungal, bacterial and algal materials. For each class, we bring two examples of designers utilizing these materials for industrial design purposes. This helps to further explain what truly
distinguishes Growing Materials from other conventional materials and to understand the challenges in working with them. Finally, this discussion enables us to set out a research agenda for Growing Design, supporting the development of these materials for industrial production.
@en

Along with the rise of Experience Design, the term Experience Prototyping was coined to describe the practice of prototyping for an experience-driven design approach. However, limited resources are available to define what Experience Prototyping is, which approaches it entails, and its scopes within the product development process. To answer these questions, we first discuss the fundamental definition of Prototyping itself, proposing a model that can describe Experience Prototyping too. The model details the possible focuses that Experience Prototyping can take, aiming at fostering greater awareness on how to prototype for future experiences. Furthermore, we discuss the role of new emerging technologies in shaping the practices related to prototyping. As an example, we report one case in which we used virtual technologies to perform an Experience Prototyping activity at the early phases of design process. The aim of this paper is to contribute to both design research and design practice by providing significant knowledge to shed light on the multifaceted practice of Experience Prototyping and thus tackle the prototyping decisions with greater awareness.@en

Moving from conceptual design intentions to the materialization in product sensory qualities can be challenging. For Experience-driven designers this transition can be even more difficult, as they need to move from the abstract level of user experience to the concrete level of product features. In this paper, we suggest an approach to progressively deconstruct experiential visions and decrease the level of abstraction. We propose the use of a tool, namely the Experience Map, which describes five steps to develop a well-refined materialization and maintain a solid correlation with the initial intention. To investigate its value and challenge the approach in design practice, we set up four case studies. The analysis of designers’ attitudes towards the Experience Map gave insights on its ability to provide a structure for creative thoughts, while suiting different and subjective attitudes of designers. Moreover, the map supports the integration of several different elements and the exploration of alternative design directions to achieve the intended, holistic experience. Some limitations were also highlighted by the case studies, which are discussed in light of future work. @en