San Francisco’s MycoWorks, known for innovating the biomaterial Reishi™, has partnered with conscious design collective YUME YUME to present an installation at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. Titled #16 Descent into Fungal, the exhibit offers a distinctive, immersive journey into humanity’s manipulation of mycelium, the foundational structure of mushrooms and the primary material behind MycoWorks’ leather alternatives. The collaboration, materialising after an eighteen-month brainstorm between YUME YUME’s Creative Director, Eva Korsten, and MycoWorks’ Creative Director, Xavier Gallego, will be showcased from 30th November 2023, to 25th January 2024, at Buro Stedelijk, an art space promoting experimentation and creativity in Amsterdam.
Eva Korsten, YUME YUME’s Creative Director, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, highlighting the vast potential of mycelium in fashion. She emphasised the significance of crafting designs exclusively with Reishi™, emphasising the beauty of mycelium-based materials and their potential in fashion. This collaboration aims to showcase the possibilities and foster awareness of the expansive material choices now available in the fashion industry.
Reishi™, MycoWorks’ latest sought-after material, emerges uniquely from the realm of biofabrication, initially discovered not within laboratories but through the sculptural practice involving living species, particularly mycelium. This collaboration builds on past projects like Heron Preston’s A Fruit Bowl and Deadwood Studios Mycelium Capsule, cementing Reishi’s position as an emerging material in high demand.
