This article explores submerged liquid fermentation (SLF) as a space for design inquiry in the development of mycelium-based materials. Despite its considerable potential for producing novel biofabricated materials, SLF remains largely underexplored within biodesign research. Drawing on iterative experimentation cycles and learnings in a laboratory environment, the study investigates how design-led approaches can contribute to techno-scientific biofabrication processes while critically examining the opportunities and constraints that arise when working with SLF-derived mycelium biomass. Framed through material-driven design methodologies, the research demonstrates how technical performance can be integrated with sensorial and expressive material qualities through collaborative practices between designers and scientists. By positioning SLF as both a biotechnological process and a creative material practice. The study contributes to broader discussions on the expanding role of design in shaping emerging biofabrication technologies across industrial and creative domains.

Colour is usually added to materials after fabrication. ChromoBC presents a different approach using bacterial cellulose (BC) that has exceptional mechanical properties and can be microbially produced from low-cost carbon sources. ChromoBC encodes colour and responsiveness into a material that is grown by microbes and whose properties can be genetically programmed. In this work, we demonstrate four colouring modes. In the first approach, the cellulose-producing bacterium, Komagataeibacter rhaeticus, expresses visible proteins that paint the growing cellulose. In the second, K. rhaeticus synthesises eumelanin via an engineered biopathway that forms tuneable grey-to-black materials. As a responsive material, anthocyanin-loaded BC reports environmental pH through instant colour changes. The fourth mode uses a synthetic symbiotic co-culture of bacteria and yeast (Syn-SCOBY) to develop a living, responsive cellulose-based material. The engineered baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, functionalises cellulose with a secreted enzyme, allowing a chemical input to trigger a colour change. Together, these prototypes demonstrate different forms of BC-based colour-changing materials that can be permanent, tuneable, reversible and responsive. At BioDesign 2026, visitors encountered ChromoBC as a hands-on BC-based material palette, testing pH-responsive material and activating enzyme-based colour changes. This demo positions biologically designed BC as a sustainable and tuneable interface in which biological processes become visible and interactive.

Most research on mycelium-based composites (MBC) focuses on the growth and properties of pure mycelium materials (PMM), engineered living materials (ELM) and biofoams. Using the basic method patented by Chris Maurer and team for MycoHAB, which we call high-compression mycofabrication (HCM), we turn spent mushroom substrate into mycobricks to understand and improve their material properties towards structural building. Compressive tests of HCM coupons of Ganoderma lucidum (reishi) fabricated at 20 tons and Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster) fabricated at 20 tons and 30 tons of force reveal that oyster outperforms reishi in compressive stress, reversing what is commonly known about these species when tested as biofoams or PMMs. Whereas Maurer has achieved 26 MPa with reishi, our median for oyster at 20 tons is 34.95 MPa and at 30 tons is 46.1 MPa measured at ∼70% deformation levels, comparable to values accepted for medium- and high-strength concrete (but at much lower deformations). Furthermore, for oyster HCM, it appears that higher compression during fabrication produces higher compressive stress results during testing, even possibly strain-hardening behavior.

This paper investigates the potential of pinecones as augmented hygromorphic natural sensors (AHNSs) and interaction bio-triggers, particularly in response to changes in humidity/moisture of mediums such as soil. As well-recognised nature-based hygroscopic actuators, pinecones have gained interest in recent years, especially in decoding their actuation mechanisms. From this perspective, we can even frame them as plant-grown robots. The paper outlines the characteristics of pinecones, surveys the landscape of biological sensors in the context of human–plant interaction and slow interaction and advances an experimental approach for developing a hybrid plant-pinecone-controlled slow-interaction system. By placing this research at the intersection of human–plant interaction, biosensorics and slow interaction, we rely on scientific strategies and poetic considerations, as props for reflection on the nature of crafted AHNS technologies with multifaceted aesthetic and functional implications. Moreover, we introduce the concept of the Hygromorphically Driven Interaction Framework and proffer hygroscopic actuators and sensors as time-based media.

This demonstration presents prototypes of a modular biofabricated orthopedic wearable system and material samples made from textile-like fungal materials that integrate localized padding, flexibility and support within a single continuous structure. The exhibit features hand–wrist orthopedic garment concepts alongside material samples that illustrate how fabrication strategies, processing conditions and patterning techniques can be tuned to create configurable zones of support, malleability and cushioning within one unified textile system. The modular approach allows the same material system to be arranged differently across garments depending on coverage and support needs, showing how a single fabrication logic can generate multiple assistive possibilities. Visitors engage visually with the materials to understand the development and tinkering process and explore how the interplay among the different system parameters engender different design outcomes. By highlighting the supportive and expressive properties of fungal textiles, the demo communicates their potential as customizable, regenerative alternatives in orthopedic applications. It illustrates how biofabrication can support human wellbeing while advancing sustainable material lifecycles, providing practical and experiential insights for designers, researchers and practitioners in biodesign and wearable technologies.