Designing Fungal Kinship: from material to collaborator through speculative prototyping

This paper explores speculative prototyping as a way of enabling kinship between humans and non-
humans through the pathway of biophilic design. With a theoretical backdrop in post-humanist design, the authors propose that fungi are not only a material for prototyping, but potentially a co-creator of the design process. Through Edward O. Wilson’s concept of the ‘Biophilia Hypothesis’, the paper suggests that the designer’s ‘fascination’ and ‘affiliation’ should be addressed in order to establish an affective and emotional connectedness to nature. Building upon the design case ‘Fungi Kinship’, which consists of two workshops and a speculative design prototype the paper offers a renewed technique for prototyping with attention towards multispecies-inclusive design practices. The objective of this paper is to initiate a discussion on how the designer's approach to speculative prototyping can contribute towards creating more sustainable and resilient futures for all living creatures.