Fungus is all around us, silently and diligently keeping the world clean. The fungus’ root-like structure called mycelium operates mostly out of view, threading though soil and organic waste like leaves and tree stumps, breaking down matter to return nutrients back into the soil. Brazilian sustainable products brand Mush envisions applying this same process to our own last chapter with a mycelium-based urn shaped like a sailing vessel.
Designed in collaboration with Furf Design Studio to slowly decompose safely into the ocean, Sail is inspired by Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, who was proclaimed, “Sailing is necessary.” The poetically conceived urn is intended to send a loved one out to sea to eventually gently biodegrade when left out in open air conditions.
Not everyone may want to be deliver their loved one to the sea. In that case, Sail is also resistant enough to be displayed indefinitely indoors in dry conditions. The urn’s unique combination of biodegradable biomaterial and creative design makes it an innovative option in a field where soil pollution from chemically treated caskets remains an industry dirty secret. In addition, a funeral urn formed from a cluster of fungus filaments is also more affordable than traditional metal vessels.
Mush and Furf Design Studio were awarded an iF Design Award for their sustainable alternative for funerary urns.
Mush, a startup founded by scientists, is already well versed in applying mycelium in the manufacturing of lighting and other homewares. A funeral urn made of mycelium seems an unexpected turn for a company devoted to making products for the living. But as Furf Design Studio notes, “…it is essential to remember that solutions for a sustainable future are not limited to the concept of smart living. It is also crucial to consider environmentally respectful approaches for an equally important moment: the end of life, that is, smart dying.”