Exploring New Paradigms of Living Materials
Chapter 1: The Substrate
We believe in creating space and opportunity for questioning existing systems, and discovering more meaningful ways for humans, technology and environment to interact. In this speculative article series, we’re excited to present the first of three research pieces led by our new Innovator in Residence: Elena Maldonado Suárez, a multidisciplinary design researcher and industrial design engineer. Elena’s research explores new ways of living within the design practice and the industrial landscape.
During her residency, Elena will reflect her theoretical inquiry into physical experiments using mycelium as an allegory t o highlight the potential of post-human design ideas, sustainable practices and regenerative models. Her journey leads her across the challenge of the current human-accelerated paradigm and the paradox between human and material agencies. In an attempt to give shape to the guiding concepts of the philosophy behind her residency, this initial chapter can be seen as the metaphorical substrate, all the substances that compound not only materials but that create our reality, it marks the beginning of a speculative journey.
The working space will be crafted from the ground up, allowing mycelium to drive the spatial arrangement and inform the tools required for the collaborative design experience. As we progress from understanding the substrate, through the growth of materials, to the act of composting, we witness the theory’s evolution into tangible realities. This journey not only highlights mycelium’s integral role in our collaborative effort but also solidifies our theoretical explorations into concrete, observable outcomes, showcasing the vibrant interaction between organic growth and contemporary design practices.
From theory to practice: What does it mean for our industrial practices to assume that materials are active agents?
“With no beginning and no end, materials are inherently connected to the world in a constant exchange that shapes our experiences and the environment. The current ecological context recognises the existence of never-ending material life cycles.”
Human history has revealed that novel material categories compete in the world as alternatives, they are complementary, not a substitute. Innovative and circular material alternatives offer different opportunities based on their agency: matter is no longer seen as something to exploit and treat purely as a resource. Our challenge lies in understanding the subtle ways to use them. Are solutions to environmental catastrophes bound to material innovation? Or are they linked to our way of interacting with matter, and therefore, the nature of what we produce?
In an attempt to answer these questions, my investigation goes beyond studying a specific material, the intention is to explore the entire constellation of a selected encounter: Mycelium, as the root network of mushrooms, lent itself perfectly to this research. This living fungal organism demonstrates the interdependence of nature. From the understanding of genetic codes to biological standardized processes of production, the research journey unfolds radially with each step of mycelial growth.
The focus of my ongoing research practice was defined by questioning what it means for our industrial practices to assume that nonhuman entities (all the animate and inanimate bodies that compound our human reality) are active agents. This first chapter delves into the understanding of the historical context of and initiates a discussion around the limitations of human-centred perspectives, sustainability and the pursuit of post-human design practices. In Chapter 2, I will relate mycology to design practices that include co-creating with mycelium. As a last step, I will put into practice possible ways to approach active matter and complement it with other perspectives from mycology, garden design, science and education.
My journey leads me to envision the ways in which the activity of materials can stimulate our imagination and our processes of making. Which alternative futures can be revealed through the use of mycelium as a living entity? Peering into an infinitive realm of possibilities, imagine: What if the living network beneath our feet could reshape how we interact with the world? This is the adventure I’m on: to listen, learn, and let the life of materials inspire the way we design alternative futures.
Understanding the context of mycelium in regenerative design
“The most fundamental thing about life is that it does not begin here or end there, but is always going on.” (1)
Behind every product we buy is a huge amount of hidden information. The clothes you’re wearing, the glasses through which you may be able to read now, or even the computer on which I am writing are living stories that involve multiple systems and multiple bodies. Our existence is saturated with objects that are considered essential in our everyday lives, however, their ubiquity inevitably leads us to overlook a fundamental aspect that goes beyond mere physical attributes: materiality.
In order to engage better with our everyday-life, solid objects, it is imperative to visualise the presence of materials and delve into the reasons behind designing and producing consumer goods. But what if we go one step further and ask: what is the substrate of our objects? What does it mean to inhabit a material world? What does the term material mean? When exploring the relationship between humans and the physical environment, I imagine the way my life and experiences are intimately intertwined with all the nonhuman actors around me. What is my human perspective towards my relationship with them?
The original etymology of the term ‘material’ is traced back to the Latin term “māteriālis,” related to substance, “māteria,” which in turn is derived from “māter,” which means “mother.” Materials are understood in relation to the concept of motherhood, they produce not only our physical objects but they are also the substances interwoven with the notions of life, creation, and sustenance. Highlighting a regenerative aspect in the process of creation and making, materials are producers and the emphasis relies on a generative capacity that is linked to New Materialism philosophies and to understanding how we dwell in the environment.
From the physical objects themselves to the broader material flows and processes that bring them into being, there is no distinction between matter and form. Therefore, there is a rejection of Aristotle’s hylomorphic model, the philosophical theory that assigns every natural body with matter and form, where the form is imposed upon the matter by an external agent. In contrast, we assign primacy to processes of formation and transformations of materials. Paradoxically, Aristotle’s theory is linked to material culture studies where the making process is one of imposing design. In line with this discourse, Jane Bennet (2010), political theorist and philosopher in the field of environmental ethics, contributes with her philosophical project Vibrant Matter, exploring the ability of inanimate things to animate, to act. Exploring the ability of the inanimate to animate, “material vitalism doubtless exists everywhere, but is ordinarily hidden or covered, rendered unrecognizable by the hylomorphic model” (3), materials resist manipulation and control, it is called by Bennet as “material recalcitrance” (3). Described as the resistance of materials to human manipulation, the term leads to a better understanding of material agencies.
Recalcitrance becomes a source of creativity, opening our imagination to the possibilities of human-material interactions, where for example, wood transcends its role in construction to act as sensor of the temperature, humidity or environment conditions. So if materiality is recognised as not yet a solid entity, can it be considered waste or rendered obsolete? By assuming that matter is lifeless, we contribute to the acceleration of human activity, resulting in what is referred to by many scholars as the Anthropocene. Therefore, I propose acknowledging the need presented by philosopher and writer Timothy Morton: an earth-centered perspective as opposed to a human model that finds itself detached from nature. As a human, I am part of a complex net of relationships, where my actions have consequences, “hyper-objects”, which extend far beyond my physical environment.
Making the invisible visible
Everything can be traced back to a shared beginning and resonates with an ecological sensibility. Building on the notion of empathy and the direct connection between everything around human and nonhuman entities, to all the interactions that take part around us, which upholds Bennet’s argument, “one moral of the story is that we are also nonhuman and that things, too, are vital players in the world” (3). This perspective encompasses everything visible and invisible to our eyes, tangible and intangible, and everything that builds the inhabited environment. Moreover, it establishes a direct relationship between humans and nonhumans on a horizontal plane. We can better emphasize with possible answers that take into account the composition, origin, and trajectory of our consumer goods, which are usually asked when discussing ecological concerns like, what substances are everyday objects composed of? Where do they come from? Or what is the trail they follow? What seems to be small is the results in a set of many materials that derive in activities with a big social and ecological impact. To see a product as a whole, its weight should take into account all the resources required to create it. So when it comes to making the invisible visible, I see the life of materials as a journey, in which there is an uncertain beginning and end, neglecting linear modes of consumption, where take, make, and dispose are identified as three states: birth, life, and death.
“But what is thought to be the end of life is a new beginning. There is much behind what happens before a product is taken or after it is disposed of.”
Let us imagine a time when mutual relationships between humans and nonhumans exist. To embody reciprocity and to rely on the capacity to create encompasses creative abilities to solve problems while embodying responsibility and sensibility, “humans cannot be understood in isolation but rather in relation to the world” (5). Designing with materials in the perspective of collective active assemblages from which “we catch a single moment in its continual development.” (6), leads to ontological discourses most prominently articulated by Arturo Escobar, a renowned Colombian anthropologist. In the field of anthropology and ecology, Escobar’s insights align with the reciprocal shaping and coexistence “things are relational, we can only understand humans, things, and the world in relation to each other” (5). These conversations call for humility during design processes and industrial models. And not only to acknowledge our ignorance towards others’ inherent capacities, but to recognise that all components of assemblages are constantly transforming and therefore already designing, “in humans designing the world, the world designs humans back, or more succinctly, design designs” (6). Things’ and people’s lives are already designing themselves, and that is where my curiosity explores how humans and things co-shape one another.
“When we humanize the world, we prevent ourselves from understanding the lives of other organisms on their own terms. But are there things this stance might lead us to pass over — or forget to notice?” (5).
Sustainable Adaptation
As we delve into the recognition of the nonhuman and examine the role of materiality in our relationship with the environment, questions arise in the intersection of society, politics, design, and industrial production. What is the ecological issue? How does sustainability play a role? Where have those debates been taken up and how? But rather than aligning with utopian or fictional discourses, I believe we need to realize a sense of loss in relation to the permanent and the predictable. When it comes to addressing the question of sustainable futures, the idea of unpredictability is a possibility to be open about unpredictable encounters. When co-designing with mycelium, as humans we have the necessity to understand and design forms, while the fungus creates its shape by adapting to the soil where it lives, or the substrate where it expands, it does not calculate, it does not plan, it simply transforms. The desire to reinforce stability is related to a feeling of human fear. So in an attempt to create possibility, to stimulate our imagination and make room for the new, we need to project beyond the established boundaries of the physical world.
Unpredictability is claimed throughout this research as an attitude towards life that is open to uncertain results and that adapts towards the responses of the more than human because that would be a key factor to understand new ways of living, “if we think we already know what is out there, we will almost surely miss much of it” (2). An argument that expresses human feelings of insecurity dealing with the lack of stability, the fear of the unknown, and the uncertainty of imagining the future. In essence, the word sustainable is not only redefining our ways of designing but also, our ways of living.
This initial chapter closes the foundation of my philosophical framework, introducing me on a speculative exciting journey with PCH Innovations, where the mycelial network will guide me on the creation of a transitional artifact. How does a mushroom grow? Do I need to design or can I grow like a mushroom and expand as the mycelial geometry does?
Delving into the intricate relationships between mycology and design there is more than just material performance; it prompts a deeper comprehension of nature, design, industry, and the very essence of existence. Adopting the view of nature as an active participant, or co-worker, this exploration extends from the realm of forests, low-tech, and craft methodologies to the spheres of future industry. Here, design is not just as a practice but a series of relational, transdisciplinary collaborations that trace the lifecycle of materials, from their origins to their integration into the rhythm of creation, combining the transient with the enduring. The designer transforms into a cultivator, tending to a future industry envisioned as a garden of interconnected ecosystems. This narrative weaves together the theoretical underpinnings of my residency with the practical outcomes of working alongside mycelium, presenting design as a dynamic, evolving practice that bridges the ephemeral with the permanent through a deep engagement with the natural world.
Research, writing and visuals by Elena Maldonado Suárez for PCH Innovations. This article includes extracts from Elena’s previous research at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation during her MsC in Design Research. Currently, Elena is collaborating with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in an ongoing project for the Bauhaus Study Rooms and the Festival Osten, where she is presenting a workshop: Thinking like a Forest; Co-Designing with Mycelium. Contact her to find out more about her research.
PCH Innovations is a Berlin-based, creative engineering studio for exploratory technology and innovation strategy. Do you have an experiment you’d like to run? Get in touch! We are always looking for new challenges to take on and talents to collaborate with.
Footnotes
1 — (Ingold 2000, 172) Ingold, Tim. 2010. Bringing Things Back to Life: Creative Entanglements in a World of Materials. NCRM Working Paper. Realities / Morgan Centre, University of Manchester.
2 — (Bennet, 2010, p.56) Bennett, Jane. 2010. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Duke University Press.
3 — (Collet 2017) Collet, Carolle. 2017. ‘Grow-Made’ Textiles. EKSIG 2017: Alive. Active. Adaptive. Conference Paper. Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.
4 — (Chapman 2021, 59) Chapman, Jonathan. 2021. “Materials Matter.” In Meaningful Stuff, 47–68. Cambridge, MA; London. The MIT Press.
5 — (Wakkary 2021, 19) Wakkary, Ron. 2021. Things We Could Design for More Than Human-Centered Worlds. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
6 — (Sheldrake 2020, 60) Sheldrake, Merlin. 2020. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds And Shape Our Futures. New York: Random House.
7 — (Alaimo, 2012, 558) Alaimo, Stacy. 2012. “Sustainable This, Sustainable That: New Materialisms, Posthumanism, and Unknown Futures.” Modern Language Association (The Modern Language Association of America) 127 (3): 558–564.
