Mycelium, the silky thread that binds fungus, is being adapted to create everything from shoes to coffins to packaging and robust building materials. Best of all, it literally feeds on trash and agricultural byproducts, detoxifing them along the way.
From mushroom leather to detecting cancer: Five Singapore outfits win for their IP straitstimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from straitstimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As we look to transition from fossil to bio-based materials, fungi are becoming the ultimate biodegradable building blocks for furniture, fashion, housing and beyond.
Leather-like materials dominate at bio-based summit
Anne Prahl
15th April 2021
The two-day online Next-Generation Bio-Based Alternative Materials Innovation Summit, held from 30 March – 1 April 2021, in collaboration with the Material Innovation Initiative, brought together innovators from start-ups and biotech companies with fashion brands, suppliers and manufacturers, to explore the challenges and opportunities in the successful commercialisation of bio-based materials and technologies.
Engineered & bio-fabricated leather alternatives
In her opening keynote ‘Growing Next-Gen materials’, Nicole Rawling, Executive Director at Material Innovation Initiative, made the case for animal-free material innovation, which could outperform animal-derived materials in terms of sustainability, ethics, price and aesthetics. In particular, Rawling highlighted the material waste issues for bovine leather production, which are due to the biological constraints of the cow.