The paper “Healing with Fungi” by Caradt/BAD researcher Wasabii NG has been accepted for the 2021 IASDR conference to be held at Hong Kong Polytechnic University from 5 to 9 December
Abstract
Fungi is a highly attractive organism for biodesign with the potential of converting agro-industrial waste into novel materials, suitable for diverse applications from acoustic panels to packaging, from textiles to building material. This paper presents an explorative study that taps into a relatively unexplored potential of fungi in biodesign, namely, “to heal” living and non-living mycelium-based materials. When still alive, the fungus can fill in the material substrate with a network of thread-like roots called mycelium. By revisiting the concept of the patch and mend, we can repair and reappropriate mycelium-based materials and extend their lifetime. By leveraging the livingness of fungi, our material-driven explorations demonstrate unique aesthetic expressions in the healed mycelium-based samples toward the revival of daily repair practices.
The paper will appear in the Proceedings of the Conference, which will be published in the website of the conference.
IASDR 2021
is the ninth Congress of the International Association of Societies of Design Research. The overarching theme of IASDR 2021 is ‘[ _ ] With Design: Reinventing Design Modes’. Design finds itself at a critical moment where the conventional ‘modes’ of doing, thinking and application are increasingly challenged by the troubled ideology of globalisation, climate changes, migration patterns and rapid restructuring of locally driven manufacturing sectors. In addition, the wider call for design to become more open and more cross- and trans-disciplinary has further blurred boundaries between disciplinary and knowledge domains, challenging both design discourses and designers to steer praxis and thinking across unchartered territory for the sake of innovation and advancing research. In combination with the environmental, cultural, technological, and, crucially, pandemic transitions, the call heeds for design at large to fundamentally alter its modes of practice.
This research project aims to facilitate a holistic understanding of ‘living material’ experiences in material-driven design. It focusses on novel design research approaches that not only foreground the role of material qualities but also the role of novel narrative forms in shaping our experiences with materials.
‘Exploring and integrating novel perspectives to our everyday through the eyes of fungi.’
Wasabii Ng is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft, and is a researcher within the Biobased Art and Design research group.
‘The dynamic relationship between humans and living artefacts will continue to evolve reciprocally with mutual care.’
Elvin Karana is Research Professor of Biobased Art and Design at the Avans and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, leading the research group Materializing Futures at TU/Delft.
The research group Biobased Art and Design capitalises on the role of artistic practice in unlocking the unique potentials of living organisms for everyday materials and communicating these to a broader public. In doing so, the group aims to instigate and accelerate our widespread understanding, further development and usage of such materials. The group’s research approach encourages tangible interactions with the living organisms, such as algae, fungi, plants and bacteria, to explore and understand their unique qualities and constraints through diverse technical and creative methods taking artists, designers and scientists as equal and active partners in the material creation.
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