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I'm looking forward to what kind of impact mushroom leather will have if it becomes competitive with animal leather in price, availability, and durability. I wo

I'm looking forward to what kind of impact mushroom leather will have if it becomes competitive with animal leather in price, availability, and durability. I wonder if it can replace animal leather for leatherworking eventually? Could you cobble a decent pair of hiking boots with it?

lioeters 5y ago
I had a friend years ago who made leather goods from kombucha. Looking it up now, I learned that it's called SCOBY leather. > SCOBY stands for "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast" Biomaterials: What is SCOBY Leather? https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/11/04/biomaterials-what-scoby-leather https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/11/04/biomaterials-wha...
- Freak_NL 5y ago
  It's an interesting development, but it doesn't look like it really has the qualities leather has (thickness and strength in particular) — it looks more like an alternative for various fabrics. I've seen it mentioned a few times before, but it seems to be a bit stuck on a level of development where the resulting material is nice to use for some proof of concept arts and crafts, but nowhere near a replacement for animal leather. Is SCOBY a dead end or is there more to be expected? Mycelium leather meanwhile seems quite ahead of the game: https://www.mylo-unleather.com/stories/mycelium-leather/ https://www.mylo-unleather.com/stories/mycelium-leather/ Of course, there is a (very) commercial side there that adds a veneer of professionalism, and the brands involved may see this mostly as a very marketable and useful greenwashing effort. Still looks impressive though. (Damn that website's asinine scroll hijacking though! Whoever though that was good idea!? I can't get it to scroll reliably at all!)
blunte 5y ago
I'm looking forward to custom mold (no pun) growing for applications like construction ((interlocking) bricks).
- mikeg8 5y ago
  Interesting, I've never heard of this. Do you have any links or references to teams testing out these biological innovations for the construction space? I'd like to learn more.
  - blunte 5y ago
    If you google "mycelium bricks", there are many results. This is a decent first look: https://www.certifiedenergy.com.au/emerging-materials/emerging-materials-mycelium-brick https://www.certifiedenergy.com.au/emerging-materials/emergi...
- muttled 5y ago
  Presumably they'd have to treat the mycelium in some way but it would be cool if they didn't have to as mycelium can grow together and form a single organism. That would mean after you built your wall out of bricks, it would just turn into a solid wall after all the bricks grew together. Probably wouldn't work in practice but fun in theory.
  - blunte 5y ago
    I wouldn't be surprised if it were possible to create an intentional environment where it could grow into any shape you want, of just about any human-scale size. Pehraps it would involve some carefully setup (and periodically adjusted) arrangement of lighting, climate control, and shade control.

lioeters 5y ago

I had a friend years ago who made leather goods from kombucha. Looking it up now, I learned that it's called SCOBY leather. > SCOBY stands for "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast" Biomaterials: What is SCOBY Leather? https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/11/04/biomaterials-what-scoby-leather https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/11/04/biomaterials-wha...

Freak_NL 5y ago
It's an interesting development, but it doesn't look like it really has the qualities leather has (thickness and strength in particular) — it looks more like an alternative for various fabrics. I've seen it mentioned a few times before, but it seems to be a bit stuck on a level of development where the resulting material is nice to use for some proof of concept arts and crafts, but nowhere near a replacement for animal leather. Is SCOBY a dead end or is there more to be expected? Mycelium leather meanwhile seems quite ahead of the game: https://www.mylo-unleather.com/stories/mycelium-leather/ https://www.mylo-unleather.com/stories/mycelium-leather/ Of course, there is a (very) commercial side there that adds a veneer of professionalism, and the brands involved may see this mostly as a very marketable and useful greenwashing effort. Still looks impressive though. (Damn that website's asinine scroll hijacking though! Whoever though that was good idea!? I can't get it to scroll reliably at all!)

blunte 5y ago

I'm looking forward to custom mold (no pun) growing for applications like construction ((interlocking) bricks).

mikeg8 5y ago
Interesting, I've never heard of this. Do you have any links or references to teams testing out these biological innovations for the construction space? I'd like to learn more.
- blunte 5y ago
  If you google "mycelium bricks", there are many results. This is a decent first look: https://www.certifiedenergy.com.au/emerging-materials/emerging-materials-mycelium-brick https://www.certifiedenergy.com.au/emerging-materials/emergi...
muttled 5y ago
Presumably they'd have to treat the mycelium in some way but it would be cool if they didn't have to as mycelium can grow together and form a single organism. That would mean after you built your wall out of bricks, it would just turn into a solid wall after all the bricks grew together. Probably wouldn't work in practice but fun in theory.
- blunte 5y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised if it were possible to create an intentional environment where it could grow into any shape you want, of just about any human-scale size. Pehraps it would involve some carefully setup (and periodically adjusted) arrangement of lighting, climate control, and shade control.