Osmose Studio, a UK-based studio, is working with mycelium to create fungi-based leather in a market which is having hard times in shifting to more sustainable production
Osmose Studio and mycelium leather
Osmose Studio is a brand that is currently working towards that goal in a more feasible way with co-founders Aurelie Fontan and Ashley Granter. The UK-based company is an interdisciplinary design studio that works on regenerative materials for the design, homeware and fashion industry. All of these work under the umbrella concept of transparency, circularity and caring for the eco-system. In 2019, they founded Mykkö, an Osmose Studio R&D project dedicated to making mycelium leather.
Introducing regenerative materials to the fashion and design industry
The steps taken usually consist of taking raw materials, treating and processing them, manufacturing them into a product, and then disposing them in unsustainable ways. According to Fontan, this practice starts with the beginning material: Mycelium is regenerative. They grow as network of fuzzy mushrooms called Hyphae which resemble sponge. Once sampled and introduced to a substrate, it can grow exponentially through time. Said substrate can come from a variety of sources, most commonly organic waste.
The risks of regenerative practices – the case of mycelium
Osmose Studio grows their mycelium leather through vertical farming. They take the mycelium culture, add it to the substrate in trays and let it grow. They use hemp shiv as a substrate, something which hemp farmers will usually end up throwing away. With hemp, all the parts of the plant can be used for one thing or another: «We take what the farmer can’t use».
They then peel off the ‘leather’, let it dry to stop the mycelium from growing and take it for post-treatment (natural dyeing and using bio-based compounds to preserve the surface). If nothing else is added, the 100% mycelium leather can return to the environment to be composted. This may seem like a simple cycle, but there are steps which people need to be cautious about. While it can be regenerative, if small details are overlooked, it can do more harm than good to the eco-system.
Mycoremediation: how to dispose of organic waste safely
«A lot of our competitors use a genetically modified species of mushroom», explains Fontan when discussing other types of mycelium leather. «What they do is take the mushroom and then engineer it to make it what they want from it». If this final product is re-introduced back into the environment, this new species of genetically modified mushroom can be invasive. Therefore, it is no longer enough to consider all products ‘made from mycelium’ as regenerative; it opens the door to another dimension of greenwashing.
Additionally, once the mycelium has grown in the substrate and peeled off, what is left is known as organic waste: «It’s a ‘problem’ because you need to know how to safely get rid of that», says Fontan. Depending on what it consists of, it can generate dangerous gases as it decomposes or create phenomena known as algae bloom if it is disposed of near bodies of water. «The idea that we had was to feed back into a compost and be able to cycle through it and potentially do something called Mycoremediation».
This is a form of bioremediation in which the environment gets decontaminated through fungi-based remediation. Essentially, the fungi can help cleanse and heal the soil. Regenerative properties can show themselves both in pre- and post-consumer stages. In the case of Osmose Studio, they dedicate a lot of their research to the pre-consumer stage i.e., intentionally working with post-production waste and organic waste to regenerate the eco-system.
The obstacles we face in making a sustainable shift in the design and fashion industry
The concept seems relatively simple: focus our energy to regenerative materials in the industry. However, like with every initial stage, the R&D which surrounds this is expensive. Not only this, but introducing a new material which would essentially replace more commonly used textiles is much easier said than done. Therefore, there are several obstacles in completely shifting our material sources: money, commitment and widespread education on how to use the materials. As stated above, simply growing mycelium in a lab to use it as a textile can actually harm the eco-system if details (such as the disposal of the organic waste) are overlooked.
From a point of view of costs, it shouldn’t be forgotten that this type of R&D should be seen as an investment. Once properly established, the price point lowers as it meets other competitors’ manufacturing costs. «We don’t have a clear idea of how cheap it could be», says Fontan. «However, in terms of competing with leather, mycelium leather can be cheaper in the future. The reason for this is that it is renewable. The base cost is quite low whereas with normal leather, you’re looking at farming animals and all the costs behind that». Whilst all of this may be true, a major factor should be considered: with the size of societal demand in the industry, mass cultivating mycelium could still harm the environment. Not only that, but it increases the risk of improper manufacturing practices such as how waste is getting disposed of.
Not letting perfect be the enemy of the good: deciding factors
Osmose Studio uses hemp silk (45% hemp and 55% silk). This is not peace silk. Whilst the studio promotes sustainability and regenerative practices, they are aware of other factors which would make starting a business otherwise unfeasible. «There comes a point where you need to make a decision and position yourself in a market», Fontan explains. In small quantities, this type of production does not cause irreversible damage to the environment, something which generates misconception across multiple sustainability discussions.
Osmose Studio
Aurelie Fontan and Ashley Granter founded Osmose Studio in 2019. It is a UK-based regenerative design lab which focuses on sustainability. They work to create symbiotic relationship between people and the planet. They developed a type of mycelium leather (with their brand Mykkö) to encourage R&D in the regenerative field.
