Humans have been sculpting the Earth’s surface since our existence began, shaping the land and shifting the water. We cut into mountains, chistling sloped planes to sustain crops that would, in turn, sustain us. Each graduating terrace step made possible by humans and Nature, together. Together finding a balance with the finite and the necessity. Together managing water and erosion for the preservation of both parties. The MushLume Terrace Sconce is both an homage to an age-old symbiosis, but also serves as a metaphor for the journey inward and our outward expression. Each step creates an imprint within ourselves and upon the world. The sconce comes in two opposing forms, Journey Inward, where the lampshade takes on the imprint of the natural terrace steps, inversely descending into the light, and Expand Out, a physical projection of ascending tiers to reach the top of the mountain.
The Terrace Sconce is grown, not manufactured, from mycelium—the roots of mushrooms. The lampshade is grown utilizing a sustainable crop—hemp—that is combined with a rapidly renewable living organism—mycelium. In just a few days, the mycelium grows, cultivating a thick network of hyphae that binds to the hemp substrate, solidifying into a solid structure within the custom lampshade molds. After the mycelium has fully matured, the lampshade is demolded, dried and heated, creating a stable, inert and 100% biodegradable product.
By tapping into a unique material science that uses mushroom mycelium, we can begin to reimagine a more sustainable future, one in which natural resources are not extracted from nature, but rather are grown in a lab. And where production processes require very little energy or water. Most importantly, when the product is at the end of its lifecycle, it can safely return to the Earth adding nutrients back to the soil rather than lasting for hundreds of years or releasing toxins.
* Mycelium is grown in a lab, not extracted from nature
* Hemp substrate is a byproduct of the fiber industry
* Mycelium has an exponential growth rate, taking days to weeks to fully colonize, while hemp is one of the fastest growing fiber plants, maturing in only 60-90 days.
* Hemp requires about half as much water as other fiber crops, while mycelium requires very little water during the growing process. Little to no additional electrical energy is needed during the mycelium growing process.
* Rated home-compostable at the end of its life.
* The lampshades are all natural! That means no off-gassing of harmful toxins into the air.
* In the past 3 years we have sequestered 5-8 tons of CO2 through our use of hemp
In May of 2024, founder Danielle Trofe celebrated ten years of successfully merging science and design with the launch of An Ode to Nature, a collection of six new biophilic forms that employ dramatically novel growing techniques that included the Terrace Sconce, at ICFF | Wanted Lookbook during NYCxDESIGN.
