Food-waste dyes bring colour to mycelium leather by Sages and Osmose
CategoriesSustainable News

Food-waste dyes bring colour to mycelium leather by Sages and Osmose

Two British materials companies, Sages and Osmose, have collaborated to dye sheets of mycelium with natural food waste, mimicking the appearance of tanned leather and suggesting a colourful future for the biomaterial.

Osmose is a company making a leather alternative from mycelium – the fibrous underground root network of mushrooms – while Sages makes natural dyes from food waste such as avocado pits, blueberries, red cabbages and onion skins, which are normally applied to textiles.

The two believe they’ve achieved a world first with their collaboration, combining two emerging areas of sustainable material development to colour mycelium without resorting to petroleum-based synthetic dyes, thereby keeping the product non-toxic and able to biodegrade safely in soil.

A small square piece of leather-like material, in a mottled hue of caramel brown A small square piece of leather-like material, in a mottled hue of caramel brown
Sages and Osmose have developed a natural dying process for mycelium leather

“There are lots of different types of vegan leather alternatives to traditional leather but the majority of them use either synthetic colourations or they use plasticisers, so they’re non-biodegradable,” said Sages CEO Emily Taylor.

“We wanted to explore an option where we could have a fully biodegradable leather that has also been coloured in a biodegradable and sustainable manner,” she continued.

Companies that prioritise biodegradability have offered mycelium in its natural shades of white and brown or black, which Osmose CEO Aurelie Fontan says is much easier to achieve naturally.

“I think the challenge for mycelium leather was that the offering just wasn’t there in terms of aesthetic,” she said. “When you’re presenting for brands and you’re like ‘we can only do brown’, it’s a little bit boring for them.”

Photo of swatches of mycelium dyed in different shades of tan, pale violet and mulberryPhoto of swatches of mycelium dyed in different shades of tan, pale violet and mulberry
The companies experimented with different food wastes in the dyeing process

“The colour sector is somewhere where you can develop your USP, essentially, which is why working with Sages is so interesting,” Fontan added.

Osmose and Sages have created tan-coloured mycelium sheets using avocado waste, which Sages sources from an importer and guacamole factory in Milton Keynes, where tens of tonnes of leftover pits and skins are produced each week.

It was a new area for both companies, as the food waste dye takes differently to mycelium leather than it does to the usually cellulose-based textiles that Sages has worked with.

The duo collaborated with materials science researchers at the UK’s Cranfield University on the project, for which the researchers focused on how to transfer and fix the dye to the material using “green chemistry” – an area of chemistry that aims to cut out hazardous substances.

In this case, the researchers sought to replace the formic acid and fluorinated acids that are often used in tanning to dissolve the polymers of the leather so it can be infused with dye. Instead, the team developed a method, which they say is significantly less toxic.

After working with Cranfield University, Sages and Osmose expanded the experiment and trialled other waste streams such as blueberries and onion skins to see what colours they could get, producing mycelium swatches in shades of violet and bordeaux.

Taylor and Fontan say they are trying to develop a process for mycelium that is akin to leather tanning, where both colour and durability properties are added in one or two steps. Their equivalent, they say, would be to dye and waterproof the material at the same time.

Close-up of vegan mycelium sheet showing its similarity to the texture of tanned leatherClose-up of vegan mycelium sheet showing its similarity to the texture of tanned leather
The tan colour was created by using waste avocado pits and skins

Osmose’s focus now is on developing a waterproof coating for their mycelium that, like the dye, is bio-based, non-toxic and able to biodegrade safely in soil. This is notoriously a challenge for plant-based leather alternatives, which almost always rely on a protective synthetic coating.

“It’s really hard to design a solution that fits all materials, which is basically what everyone is struggling with,” said Fontan. “Someone might have pineapple leather and they have their own coating but it doesn’t mean it’s going to work on mushroom and so on.”

Unlike some companies, however, Osmose says it does not want to bring a product with a non-biodegradable coating to market.

“If you’re doing a composite, it will not biodegrade at the end of life, which is compromising all the good work that you’ve been doing before that step,” Fontan said.

Mycelium is one of the most popular emerging leather alternatives. It has already appeared in luxury goods such as a bag by Hermes, clothing by Stella McCartney and trainers by Adidas.

Reference

Mitsubishi Jisho Design creates food-waste teahouse in Venice
CategoriesSustainable News

Mitsubishi Jisho Design creates food-waste teahouse in Venice

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Jisho Design has made a teahouse from food-waste-based materials at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Architects Takaaki Fuji, Hiroya Inage and De Yuan Kang from Mitsubishi Jisho Design designed the teahouse for the Time Space Existence exhibition held by the European Cultural Center during this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale.

Food-waste tea house
Mitsubishi Jisho Design created a tea house for the Venice Architecture Biennale

The teahouse was named Veneti-An – a combination of the words Venetian and An, which means a small hut in Japanese and is often used in names of  teahouses.

It was designed to offers visitors a place to experience a Japanese tea ceremony and reflect on how people connect following the Covid pandemic.

“The point of this exhibition is to explore, to use it as a lab, to make people think,” said De Yuan Kong said.

“It’s all about creating conversations.”

Pavilion made from cardboard and food waste for Time Space Existence exhibition
It was constructed with food-waste joints

The tea house was built from varied of materials made from food waste including coffee grounds and pasta, who are common foods in Venice.

Along with 7,165 paper tubes and 128 cork floor panels, it includes 74 coffee-ground-made panels and 2,324 joint components made from discarded pasta. According to the architects, the pasta-based joint components produced by Fabula are as durable as concrete.

“I feel that the exterior material in architecture is limited,” said Fuji.

“Our intent is to explore new technologies in construction, which could result in stronger regional identities and expression.”

Pasta being moulded into architectural components
Pasta was moulded to form the joint components

The angle of the struts that make up the pavilion was set at 45 degrees. This was determined by the city’s latitude to further connect it to the city.

“By adapting the joint shape to the latitude of the place where it is placed, a distinctive identity is created in the form, as well as a teahouse that optimally lets in or shields it from sunlight in response to the local environment,” said the architects.

Cardboard and food waste chairs
The pavilion will be disassembled into pieces of furniture after the exhibition

Veneti-An is waterproof as its components were treated with a silicon-based liquid by Japanese silica coating producer SilicaGen.

The team will measure and record changes to the materials used during the six month exhibition as part of its research on sustainable materials, responding to the overall biennale’s theme – Laboratory of the Future.

To build the pavilion, the architects packed the components, a total weight of 255.5 kilograms, into seven 87-litre suitcases and took them from Japan to Italy.

Following the biennale, the teahouse will be dismantled and rebuilt into pieces of furniture.

“Neither 100 per cent manufactured nor 100 per cent self-built, it is a piece of furniture that allows for modification and addition of a personal touch,” said the designers.

“The dimensions of the parts were determined on the premise of turning into furniture, or perhaps it would have been better to describe it as furniture transformed into a teahouse for the exhibition’s duration only.”

Time Space Existence exhibition at Venice Architecture Biennale
It forms part of the Time Space Existence exhibition

The tea house is located in Marinaressa Gardens alongside a concrete emergency housing prototype developed by the Norman Foster Foundation and Holcim as part of the Time Space Existence exhibition.

The group show presents work by architects, designers and artists from 52 different countries in venues across the city. Also as part of the show SOM and Princeton University used AR to construct a self-balancing arch.

The photography is by Yuta Sawamura.

Time Space Existence takes place from 20 May to 26 November 2023 at various locations across Venice, Italy. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Reference