076 _ _MAR/APR 2019
Bending the rules of surfacing
For some years now, Organoid Technologies of Austria has been supplying
a host of natural surface materials – hay, ground bark, cocoa husks –
to enterprising designers, but the carrier panels they’ve come on, such
as high-pressure-laminate (HPL) boards, have been on the inflexible side.
That’s changing. With the introduction of Organoid Flexi, as many
as nine stock materials (including those mentioned above, plus others
by special order) can be had on thinner, more flexible sheets of veneer-
reinforcing non-woven fabric without glue penetration or bleed through.
Like the HPL panels, the Flexi sheets measure 305 by 132 centimetres but
can be bent and manipulated (i.e., cut with a cutting machine, trimmed
with scissors and even sewn) almost like a textile, making upholstering
curved walls, coating irregular foundations or even covering furniture
even easier – and more intriguing. Imagine wrapping a headboard, say,
with Kafee, the Organoid surface made of coffee grounds with a bean
relief structure: Waking up to the scent of coffee every morning would
no longer require putting on a pot. _D.S. organoids.com
A vegan take on leather
The material possibilities of mycelium – the underground root structure of
fungi – have been explored through everything from lamps to architectural
building blocks. Until now, however, these designs have looked and felt
experimental – and very mushroom-y. The game-changer? California-
based Bolt Threads’s Mylo, which convincingly mimics leather. Founded in
2009, the company embraces an eco-driven ethos to “transform the tex-
tiles market.” Having previously released a biofabricated spider silk called
Microsilk, it partnered with a New York–based biotech firm, Ecovative,
to create Mylo, a durable and supple mycelium-based textile that right off
the bat caught the attention of no less than Stella McCartney. Bolt Threads
worked with the fashion designer to create a gold dress (displayed for a
time in MoMA’s Items: Is Fashion Modern? exhibition) as well as the Mylo
Falabella Prototype 1 bag (part of the V&A’s Fashioned from Nature show,
which wrapped in January). Last fall, Bolt Threads went fully commercial
with Mylo, launching a mushroom-leather tote co-designed with Portland
brand Chester Wallace on Kickstarter. _E.P. boltthreads.comRammed earth
without the bulk
When new building code regulations changed the
way that traditional rammed earth could be used,
requiring that insulation be added, David Easton,
founder of Napa, California–based Rammed Earth
Works, began to rethink the material. “The complica-
tion and expense of adding insulation to site-built
walls motivated us to develop a precast panel system,”
Easton says. Experimenting with forming the panels
in its shop, his team was able to bring the thickness
down, from between 46 and 61 centimetres to a mere
7.6 centimetres. “What’s special about this,” Easton
explains, “is that an architect can get the beauty of
rammed earth without the bulk.” The company has
developed a technique for adding the layers of clay
and minerals to the formwork and compacting them
so that the final product has a distinct striation.
Although the colours are limited only by what’s found
in nature, Rammed Earth Works sources all of its
material locally. For a recent project in San Francisco- the Reformation clothing shop designed by Bohlin
Cywinski Jackson (pictured) – the company installed
a stunning feature wall with flowing lines of soft
greys and blues. _E.D. rammedearthworks.com