Lively/Living Matter: Carefully Crafting with Mycelium

Sometimes referred to as “biofabrication”, an emerging field relies on the tools of biotechnology to produce goods such as clothes or furniture with living (micro)organisms. Aiming at more sustainable alternatives and a cleaner manufacturing process, it gathers an increasing number of amateurs and professional scientists. Designers and architects, turning themselves into do-it-yourself biologists, are particularly keen on working with mycelium: they can indeed harness the vegetative part of fungi to produce a wide range of biodegradable materials. Drawing on an ongoing ethnographic research conducted in Western Europe, primarily in Belgium, this paper addresses how making artifacts with fungi (e.g., textile or brick) requires specific care. Indeed, those new materials often need more maintenance than their industrial counterparts to keep their precious properties before returning to earth as they will decompose. Moreover, fungi themselves must be properly cared for to make good partners in that ambitious project of making more livable futures for both humans and nonhumans (Brightman & Lewis, 2017). How are those cared-for elements articulated together in everyday practices in the lab and beyond? By examining processes of crafting new materials and ecological values, this paper takes seriously claims – from both interviewees and theories – about the agency of matter. Matter here is full of life, not only because a living organism partakes in its very being, but also because it is an active participant (Ingold 2012, Barad 2003) in encounters with humans.