MushLume Lighting

MushLume is a Brooklyn-based lighting and acoustics studio that grows its shades instead of manufacturing them. Sustainably sourced hemp is combined with mycelium, the root network of mushrooms, inside custom moulds; within days the mycelium binds the hemp into a solid structure, which is then dried and heated to produce a stable, home-compostable lampshade.

The company was founded by designer Danielle Trofe and frames the work as bio-design: the mycelium is grown in a lab rather than extracted, the hemp substrate is a by-product of the fibre industry, and no additional electrical energy is needed while it grows. The same material provides acoustic performance, since its dense network of hyphae dampens noise, so the shades serve pendants, table lamps and sconces as well as suspended acoustic systems.