Simiæn

SIMIÆN is a Vienna-based studio built on lichen, the symbiosis of fungus and algae that grows slowly on stone and covers roughly seven per cent of the planet’s land surface. It ferments lichen in small batches into a botanical aperitif the studio calls a tasting landscape — mineral and layered, with a bitterness no cultivated botanical can reproduce — and makes tableware from natural-stone offcuts, by hand in Austria.

The project grew out of a documentary-fiction on lichen as a future food source by designer and New Design University educator Julia Schwarz, who founded the company with business strategist Lisi Penker. SIMIÆN works from Studio Wasser at Severingasse 7 in Vienna’s ninth district and sells through stockists in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Romania, Lithuania and New York, alongside partnerships with hotels and restaurants.