Experiments
Stepping into the paradigm of scientific inquiry driven by practical applications necessitates addressing unanswered research questions from a different perspective. Imagine, for instance, a jacket made from mycelium-based material. The owner could create holes in the jacket for better breathability in summer. In winter, these holes could heal, restoring the jacket’s water repelling and insulating properties. For such functionality, the healing process must satisfy specific criteria: 1) it must be localised, restricted to the punctured areas (to preserve the jacket’s shape without excessive biomass generation), 2) it must occur under non-sterile conditions, and 3) it must happen in three dimensions, not limited to flattening the fabric on the surface of a liquid. These premises formed the foundation of my brainstorming process to design an experimental approach
Figure 7. A schematic representation of the self-healing process of mycelium leather-like materials, as demonstrated by Elsacker et al., 2023
Creative Collaboration
This research culminated in a collaboration with designer Nicholas Rapagnani, resulting in a conceptual sneaker prototype capable of “shapeshifting” between a breathable sandal and a sealed boot. Beyond its technical ambition, the project embodies a broader inquiry into living materials as agents of ecological empathy–inviting us to imagine a future in which garments and products participate in cycles of care, repair, and transformation rather than disposal.
The work aligns with my wider practice of regenerative design, using scientific experimentation and imagination to prototype hopeful, life-affirming relationships between humans and the materials that sustain us.
