Gallery: This Lamp Is Grown From Mushrooms
Photos by Danielle Trofe01mushlume-02
Designer [Danielle Trofe's](http://danielletrofe.com/) latest project, called the Mush-lume, is a lamp inspired by and manufactured with mushrooms.
Photos by Ecovative02mushlume-10
The lampshades started out as agricultural waste products, mostly corn stalks and seed husks that were packed into a plastic mold which was injected with liquified [mycelium,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium) a fungus that grows on the materials and binds them together like glue.
Photos by Ecovative03mushlume-08
Ecovative's current products are largely disposable and look like the hick cousins of more conventional styrofoam blocks.
Photos by Ecovative04mushlume-09
"Ecovative focuses mostly on big partnerships and industrial scale applications of Mushroom Material technology, but projects like this are a lot of fun," says Sam Harrington, Ecovative's marketing manager.
Photos by Ecovative05mushlume-04
Trofe is currently working on an indoor planter made fom mushrooms. "The challenge here of course, is how to restrict the material’s biodegradable property until desired," she says. "It’s a challenge, but luckily I’m a fun-gal!"
Photos by Danielle Trofe06mushlume-01
"I’m not the first designer or artist to work with mushrooms as a product medium," says Trofe. "But I might be the first lighting designer to tap into a material science that’s already been well developed and is ready to expand and be adopted into new industries and applications."
