Fungi Mutarium
Livin Studio has, in collaboration with Utrecht University, developed a novel fungi food product grown on (plastic) waste, a prototype to grow it and culinary tools to eat it. Please go to FUNGI CUTLERY to explore our culinary tools developed throughout this project. Fungi Mutarium is a prototype that grows edible fungal biomass, mainly the mycelium, as a novel food product. 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 wild when harvesting the "FUs". This project was funded by the Bio Art and Design Award and generously supported by Utrecht University. The Bio Art and Design Award is a collaboration between NWO (Dutch Research Council- Earth and Life Science, Humanities, The Hague), ZonMW (Medical Research Council, The Hague), MU Artspace (Eindhoven) and Waag Society (Amsterdam). credits of project: Katharina Unger and Julia Kaisinger for LIVIN Studio research partner: Utrecht University, Prof. Dr. Han Wösten, Kasia Lukasiewiecz