Self-made Designer: How to built a start-up in sustainable design?

We asked him to share his story and some tips on how to bootstrap a sustainable
material design startup at the beginning of your career.

1. Find your material

The Mycolutions journey started with the material itself while I was still in university. We were a group of 10 students in a course with Professor Michael Braungart and the task was to develop a Cradle-to-Cradle product. There was packaging material already being made from mycelium, and the material just resonated with me. We started looking into using the material for building insulation, and I completed my master’s thesis on the topic working together with a mushroom grower. I asked myself: what can be done with the old blocks of fungus after the mushrooms have been harvested? Mycelium is the root-like structure of the fungus, and after mushrooms have been harvested, there is a lot left over.

2. Make an impact

Of all industries worldwide, construction consumes the most materials, so when a group of us continued working with mycelium after university, we wanted to tackle the problem of extruded polystyrene and extended polystyrene (often known as Styrofoam) in building. Particularly XPS is not great in environmental terms: it is made with hydrofluorocarbon blowing agents, which are potent greenhouse gases. Both materials contain high levels of embodied carbon. Mycelium, on the other hand, is a natural byproduct and biodegradable. We were convinced this would be the perfect alternative to fossil fuel-based materials.

3. Recognize challenges and adjust

Replacing XPS and EPS would require producing at much greater scale than we are able to at present. Along with scalability comes the question of pricing. Since our manufacturing process is still largely by hand, we cannot compete on price with large industrial manufacturers. We decided to shift to another product that suits our material, namely acoustic panels. We’re competitive in terms of pricing, and the amount of materials needed for installations is manageable.

4. Discover your niche

Acoustic panels or sound absorbing panels reduce background noise and echo in spaces. They are installed locations where sound is at a premium such as recording studios, offices, and meeting rooms, to dampen unwanted sounds and create atmosphere. We pivoted to acoustic panels because the material has the perfect qualities. Mycelium can be grown into practically any shape, it is sound dampening, soft and pleasing to the touch.

5. Design the process

To make the panels, we start with the mold. Any form is possible. For our first prototypes, we created a wave form. Then the organic byproduct– we use leftover rapeseed straw from the canola oil – is thermally treated to create a sterile substrate, which is then mixed with the mycelium to start the growth process. The fungus reduces the flammability of the straw, it’s water resistant, and creates a smooth surface. We have a pilot production facility in Altona where we make 100 panels a week. In future, we want to scale up and eventually go back to our original plan: manufacturing an alternative insulation product.

6. Secure financing

We started the company right after college, and we were fortunate for an EXIST stipend at the beginning, which allowed us to concentrate on growing the company. After the founding, we received an InnoRampUp stipend from the Hamburg Investment and Development Bank.

7. Get noticed

Recently we’ve been attending trade fairs like the Building Green in Hamburg, pitching Mycolutions at events like the Viva Technology in Paris – where we won the category 'Sustainable Solutions'– and building up a European network of collaborators and partners. We're part of the New European Bauhaus Accelerators from the European Institute of Innovation & Technology, and finally we've just undergone a rebranding and launched a new website.

It's a very exciting time!