Milan, Italy — April 8th-13th 2025 — SYLIA, the first design studio in Germany focused on mycofabrication, is taking part in the 26th edition of SaloneSatellite during Milan Design Week.
Mycofabrication is an innovative manufacturing process and design approach that uses mycelium, the root network of mushrooms, to transform agricultural and textile waste into new valuable objects and materials. Inspired by the symbiotic relationships found in mycelium networks, this fabrication technique explores how co-designing with nature can serve as a blueprint for circular artisanal and industrial production.
As an answer to SaloneSattelite’s theme New Craftsmanship, SYLIA will showcase mycofabrication in its multifaceted forms: from the mycoblock basics to functional and conceptual interior design pieces.
SYLIA catalyzes the initiative of cross-experts and companies who wish to challenge the ecological and spiritual crisis of our times, by enabling them create objects and materials with mycelium. Mycoblock is the cornerstone of a modular design approach, as it makes the biodesign processes accessible to designers, architects, and other professionals, and ensures the co-creation of ambitious design pieces.
Following the spirit of mycofabrication as a collaborative practice, SYLIA partnered up with industrial designers Gabriel Freitas and Tiago Volpato to remake their work .SHH. out of mycelium: a tableware collection that gently guides the users through a meditation, allowing them to appreciate the dimension of silence in interior design. Inspired by the mycelium’s quiet yet prolific growth in the forest’s soil, this part of the exhibit is an invitation to detach from the noise of the surrounding environment and find the internal silence necessary to engage with the object’s still energy—its material, design, and purpose.
“Mycofabrication offers a path to overcome problematic linear production methods,” said Giulio Perticari, Founder and Creative Director of SYLIA. “Furniture, leather, and other everyday objects can now be made out of mushroom mycelium grown on one of the most common overlooked resource in the world: agricultural and textile waste.”
“By learning to trust the wisdom of fungi and adapting to their rules, we become better students of our own existence and reconnect with the natural part of ourselves, as individuals and as a society” said Alessandro Volpato, Co-Founder of SYLIA. “Our approach is a testament to the possibilities that emerge when design is driven by symbiosis between people and other organisms. Fungi teach us that intelligence also lies in interconnectedness and the silent, unseen work of creating life-sustaining networks.”
SYLIA’s participation in SaloneSatellite marks a significant milestone in the journey to establish the studio as a learner in mycofabrication. The studio offers prototyping services to design companies interested in tapping into the growth potential of mycelium, and in exploring a new form of craftsmanship that is both innovative and environmentally responsible.
