Phil Ross has grown furniture from fungus and thinks his sustainable mushroom-based material can be used to replace a variety of manufactured materials, including plastics and engineered wood. (Katie McKracken/Workshop Residence)
Why build a home if you can grow one? San Francisco-based artist Phil Ross has spent the last 20 years developing sustainable materials from mushrooms.
Although Ross originally cultivated mushrooms as food, he quickly became fascinated by their potential as an artistic medium. He started growing sculptures and other structural forms out of fungus. And through a process he calls “mycotecture,” Ross crafted furniture, interlocking blocks, and a small tea house.
But what started as an art project has now turned into a business venture. At the end of 2013 Ross co-founded the startup company MycoWorks as the first step on his quest to “mycotecturize the world.”
Liz Roth-Johnson 