GrowSquares
Mycelium Packaging

A Modular System for Urban Gardening

Director of Biofabrication & Product Design

In 2016 I met the CEO of GrowSquares, who had an incredible idea for a personalized urban gardening product, but needed a packaging solution with fairly unique capabilities:

1. Structurally Robust: able to keep 5 lb. squares of soil intact through shipping and delivery.

2. Rapidly Biodegradable: all packaging materials must decompose within a user’s garden in less than 8 weeks.

3. Healthy & Natural Materials: contains no toxic chemicals that could leach into soil, plants, or produce.

Seeing this as an interesting challenge I began consulting on materials research and product design, and a short three years later we released GrowSquares’ first mycelium packaged garden modules.

Designing with Living Systems

Mycelium is a living fungal organism that makes up the vegetative part of mushrooms, and has began entering the design world in recent years with its remarkable material properties. Its filament-like structure can grow prolifically through organic substates, building up networks that bind particles together creating exceptionally strong but lightweight biocomposite materials.  The full growth process can take only 7 days, uses readily available agricultural waste, and is very low-intensive in terms of energy and water requirements.  Mycelium can also be beneficial to plant and soil ecologies, as it sequesters carbon, facilitates decomposition, and even allows plants to exchange nutrients between species.