For Mycoboscus: Sustainability, New Species and a Desirable Future with Mycelium Materials

"Imagine being at the point in time when the development of leather work or woodworking is initiated, with all the accompanying cultural capacity and a timely sustainable potential. Mycelium-based composites (MBCs) represent just that: a nascent and exciting craft that might just outlive extractive industrial capitalism and may surprise us more than once in its creative uses. MBCs are an emerging technique that we have just begun to explore in a wider socio-cultural context; that is to say, under conditions that allow the affordable democratization of its knowledge."

Building on a critical assessment of the sustainability of MBCs, this chapter presents perspectives for the development of a situated craft of 'mycoboscus,' tying ecology and tacit sensibility to the scientific understanding of the underlying fungal biology of mycelium materials.