Green Island, NY --
In the early stages of designing the Hy-Fi towers for MoMA’s Young Architects Program, David Benjamin, principle Architect of The Living, knew that he wanted to incorporate Ecovative’s renewable and award-winning Mushroom® Materials in the structure. After initial discussions, David made a trip to Ecovative headquarters in Green Island, NY to see the process in person.
David left that day with a few bags of live Mushroom Materials, and later returned to Ecovative with prototype bricks that he had designed and grown himself. After some further prototyping, David approached Ecovative to fine-tune, validate, and manufacture these bricks at scale. Three months and 10,000 bricks later, the 40 foot Hy-Fi tower is standing tall in the MoMA PS1 courtyard, and is helping to redefine the way building materials are viewed.
David had a vision for using Mushroom Materials, and Ecovative was able to bring that vision to life. Ecovative is excited to offer that same potential to you through our latest product offering, “Grow It Yourself” Mushroom® Materials.
The “Grow It Yourself” (GIY) product enables designers, artists, educators, and innovators to grow their own creations with Mushroom® Materials, just like we do at Ecovative. We hope to inspire the use of healthy, ultra-rapidly renewable, compostable materials in all kinds of products and projects.
The GIY kit includes bags of living Mushroom® Material, which is essentially the same raw material that we use to grow Mushroom® Packaging and other products. GIY growers can use this material to make their own new and exciting creations. In cases where a GIY customer has created a new product that needs to be produced at scale, Ecovative can help. Our production facility in Green Island, NY can replicate designs with a high degree of consistency and quality control.
David Benjamin reflects on his experience with GIY: “At The Living, we are both futuristic and immediate, working with both big ideas and with materials that we can get our hands on. Prototyping is a crucial part of our design process and Ecovative GIY was a great way for us to quickly explore options and get a feel for how this amazing new material works.”
The Hy-Fi tower by David Benjamin and The Living is the largest structure to-date made out of Mushroom Materials, but there are other designers currently creating exciting projects and products through the Grow-It-Yourself program. Designer Danielle Trofe is currently working with Ecovative’s Mushroom Materials to create the Mush-Lume and Mush-Bloom product lines. These high-end lampshades and plant holders made waves at their public launch during New York City’s Design Week. Also, David Purser and Daniel Del Toro of Surf Organic are growing an ocean-friendly Mushroom® Material surfboard aptly dubbed “El Portobello”.
These are just some of the many types of applications that Ecovative’s “Grow It Yourself” kit can be used for. This product will be available in the contiguous U.S. in September 2014. For more design inspirations and product information, and to be among the first in the world to access this amazing material, visit GIY.ecovativedesign.com.
Share what you would create with this product on Facebook or Twitter using #ecogiy. On August 1st we’ll pick 3 winners who will get a free Mushroom® GIY Kit – we can’t wait to see what you come up with.
