(Patrícia Amancio/CASACOR)
Anyone who visited
CASACOR Paraná 2022 will have certainly noticed the ceiling of the dining area of the
Evviva Gourmets Club, designed by Studio Architetonika Nomad : the geometric relief stood out over the table, bringing textures and movement to the space. However, The raw material of the coating is even more impressive:
the plates are made of mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus - such as a mushroom - or a bacterial colony . "Think that living things are made of cells. In the case of fungi, these cells are elongated and the set of them is called hyphae. When there are several hyphae, we call it mycelium," explains engineer Eduardo Bittencourt Sydney, CEO of
Mush , a company who signs the material used in CASACOR. In the case of mushrooms, the mycelium is spread underground.
(Patrícia Amancio/CASACOR)
The panels are part of the Iris collection, Mush's first launch, which aims to combine design with
sustainability and acoustic comfort. "One of the characteristics of our material is
noise absorption . And it is recommended for dry environments, both in “It can be installed on both walls and ceilings,” says Eduardo. Installation can be done with contact adhesive or double-sided tape and is not recommended for use in humid areas, such as bathrooms. “It is also a material that provides thermal insulation, very similar to expanded polystyrene, Styrofoam. So,
the idea is to be a thermal and acoustic conductor, but beautiful and sustainable ,” he explains.
Participation in CASACOR
Luiz Maingué - Studio Tech SEBRAE. Apresentado pelo Sebrae Paraná, o apartamento exclusivo de 40m² traz soluções tecnológicas e sustentáveis para o construir e o novo morar. O conceito aponta para um futuro mais eficiente, conectado e confortável, onde o visitante interage com tecnologia de ponta e materiais de alta performance. Tons intimistas de cinza e caramelo, propõem uma atmosfera calorosa e bastante contemporânea. (Eduardo Macarios/CASACOR)
Mush participated for the first time in
CASACOR Paraná 2021 in the
Studio Tech SEBRAE space, designed by Luiz Maingué . There, the company exhibited its work alongside other startups, in an area of 1 m². “
This year, we participated with 42 m², largest area ever applied with mycelium products in all of Latin America ”, celebrates Eduardo. “
CASACOR is a very important showcase for the company’s early days, a place to show that the product works and to publicize our work. We are very proud that the exhibition promotes the use of this technology,” he says.
(Marcelo Stammer/CASACOR)
The process that uses mycelium is completely sustainable. “We use agricultural waste as raw material, a material of renewable origin, something that has already consumed natural, environmental and economic resources. The transformation of this waste into the final product is done with validated zero-carbon technology , that is, we do not emit CO2 into the atmosphere”, explains the engineer. And, despite not being perishable and having no expiration date, if the coating is discarded in nature, it is completely biodegradable. “Whether in soil, sand, fresh or salt water. It doesn’t matter what environment it will end up in, will always be decomposed.
It is a perfect life cycle: the product is born in plant residue, becomes a commercial product and, when it returns to nature, it turns into plant fertilizers ”, adds Eduardo.
Other products
The panels that cover the ceiling of the Evviva Gourmet Club are part of the
Iris collection , which, in addition to wall coverings, also features clouds with decorative and acoustic functions. “The collection has always been white because mycelium is white. However, in the last month, we launched the colored version, made with a mineral paint, which does not impact sustainability and does not affect the acoustic absorption capacity”, he explains. With children in mind, the
Cosmos line features the sun, moon and stars that shine when the lights are turned off. "We talk a lot about being sustainable, but we don't pay much attention to the new generations. The idea here is to build the idea of sustainability from early childhood ", account.
(Reprodução e Marcelo Stammer/CASACOR)
The
Iris lamp has two light sources: one at the top with warmer tones and another closer to the base, with a magenta color that is capable of helping plants grow indoors.
The company
"
Mush started at the Technological University of Paraná, in a scientific initiation project that I supervised. The student was Leandro Oshiro, who is now one of my partners", says Eduardo. The beginning with the production of materials made with mycelium technology yielded rapid results and, after a grant obtained from the Araucária Foundation, the company was officially born in 2019. During the pandemic period, the goal of moving from laboratory scale to commercial production was also achieved. "With the investment of an accelerator, we were able to set up a factory in Ponta Grossa. In 2022, we will start selling our products for the architecture and design area", he explains. The idea has been so successful that Eduardo resigned from his position as a university professor and is now fully dedicated to Mush. "I had to choose and I chose to run the company because it is something I believe in deeply and that has great potential.
I want to help build a better world with this material that we managed to develop ", he concludes.
