Indian Designers Reimagines Furniture Line with Mushroom Roots | MycoLiving

FDT Bureau

Imagine a future where our next office chair or bedside lamp doesn’t need to be manufactured in a distant factory or assembled with synthetic materials. Instead, it simply grows right in our homes from something as mundane as kitchen waste. While we’re not quite at that level of organic alchemy, the use of mycelium, mushroom root systems, brings us significantly closer to that reality. Bhakti V Loonawat and Suyash Sawant, co-founders of the Mumbai-based design studio Anomalia, are among those leading this promising frontier. Through their explorations, they are transforming the way we think about furniture and interior objects. Here is a detailed report on FURNITURE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY (FDT).

Their innovative initiative, MycoLiving, showcases how mycelium can serve as a viable, sustainable alternative to conventional furniture materials. The duo has already developed several products from this living material, including acoustic partition systems, a load-bearing block capable of supporting up to 40 times its own weight, and a line of chairs. Their next project, a growing light fixture, signals how Anomalia envisions a world where living materials and design seamlessly coalesce.

This shift is particularly urgent given the environmental challenges posed by the traditional furniture industry, which contributes approximately 5 per cent of global landfill waste. Most of this comes from non-recyclable materials like polyurethane foam and synthetic leather. In contrast, MycoLiving furniture is grown, not built, using mycelium-based foam and leather components that are both recyclable and compostable. Each piece is crafted around a mild steel frame, which ensures strength and stability, and is designed for dry assembly. When the furniture reaches the end of its usable life, the metal components can be recycled, while the organic mycelium elements naturally decompose and return to the earth. What sets MycoLiving apart is not just its sustainability, but its design philosophy inspired by the very structure of mycelium. The branching hyphae network influences how each piece is crafted, thus balancing aesthetic appeal, functional utility, durability and lifecycle longevity.

Image credit: Anomalia