01.
la materia
come sistema
This research, developed during a residency at the Basque Bio Design Center, questions traditional sustainability to investigate the potential of living materials. Using mycelium as a case study, it proposes a shift from absolute formal control to designing for conditions: the designer becomes a director of variables, the organism a co-author.
The resulting audio speaker is not the goal, but the verification of a method.
strains
Nine fungal strains isolated and cultivated, compared for growth rate, density and surface behaviour. Some colonised in days. Others never took.
substrates
Six agro-industrial by-products, all sourced within the Bilbao–Güeñes area. Proximity is part of the method: the material is defined by what the territory already throws away.
sourced within 30 km:
- cotton
- spent coffee
- pruning waste
- oak sawdust
- brewer's spent grain
- paper pulp
details
mould:
components:
material:
- mycelium composite
- agro-industrial substrate
- plywood (control plate)
- full-range driver
- Master thesis
- Supervised by Raffaella Fagnoni, Annapaola Vacanti, Francisco Kuhar
- Iuav University of Venice
- Residency at Basque Bio Design Center, Güeñes
- Culture Moves Europe mobility grant, Goethe-Institut
- Exhibited: Milan Design Week 2026, “Technéteca”
- Exhibited: Design Fair 2026, Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
- Special Mention for the Quality of Research, Crea Cantieri del Contemporaneo
- Venice / Güeñes
- 2026
📸 picture by me