Tactile whiteness_ FYP_New packaging materials

The project is a series of experiments and products combining organic living materials in the world of art and functional design, focusing on exploring interactive contacts, complementing visuality with other perceptions, such as auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory stimuli and sensations.

In the further development of the project, the integration of the natural growth phase of the mycelium, the purity of the substrate and the selection of the most relevant fungal species for the project are further milestones of the experiments. The aesthetics of the surface, the natural shades of white and the consumability of the mycelium of the physiologically important fungal species could open up a new perspective in packaging culture, which, in addition to global Circularity, could also present a solution to Public Health concerns.

FYP (Fungi Yielded Papers) is a thin surface material derived from mycelium quilt, a soft, easy to bend and shape new material, which can be called paper, cardboard, packaging material. Its special feature is its purity, as the substrate consists exclusively of plant ingredients suitable for human consumption, so the mycelium paper or packaging can also be eaten.

What is different in my approach compared to other international examples is that mycelium packaging material has a priority of purity suitable for human consumption, consumable as a secondary function, thus also reflecting social public health concerns. The basic aim was to create formally exciting aesthetic packaging that emphasises any perception, that fulfils a protective, cohesive, and therefore practical and functional, by integrating it into a completely new theoretical system, the manifestation of which is the message, the mycelium itself. The boxes are not held together by anything else but the fitting together of the materials, the turning into each other, the squeezing, the pressing in, the embedding, the enclosing, is what gives the form its closedness.