’Handbag ai funghi’: VUB team creates first sustainable handbag from mycelium leather

- EN - NL
Handbag based on mycelium leather © Anouk Verstuyft
Handbag based on mycelium leather © Anouk Verstuyft
A team of biologists, bioengineers, architects and product developers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has developed the first fully bio-based and biodegradable handbag based on mycelium. Mycelium is the root structure of fungus and forms a tight network of white filaments in the soil, on wood or other organic material. By growing mycelium in lab conditions, a material can be created that can be processed into a substitute for animal or synthetic leather.

For his research, VUB PhD candidate Simon Vandelook, financed by the Research Foundation - Flanders, gathered various fungal spores from the Sonian Forest. He grew them in a petri dish, before selecting those with the tightest network of mycelium filaments. ...
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