New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Concept category

Identify the award category for which this concept is being submitted
Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking

Email user
nilsmattias@live.com

Basic information

Concept title
Sennacenia

Full Concept Title
Lamp made out of mushroom mycelium

Please provide a short, catchy description of your concept to be used in communication towards the public
Creating a lamp out of biodegradable, CO2-negative mushroom mycelium. The lamp is made to both visually and literally last a long time! The underlying message of the lamp is to devalue consumer society and get people to move towards a slower and more efficient lifestyle, with the mushroom mycelium lamp being a reminder of that, both conceptually and physically.

What was the geographical scope of your concept?
Cross-border/international

Where was your concept implemented?
Location 1
Estonia

Location 2
Estonia

Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries
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If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
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Does your concept address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly urban

Does your concept refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your concept benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your concept won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual

Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
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In case my concept is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my concept in the channels of the European Commission
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
School Institution

Description of the concept
Please provide a summary of your concept.
My concept is a product designed to use a new, experimental, environmentally friendly and future relevant material known as "Mycelium". "Mycelium" is known as the roots of mushrooms yet has seen little use when it comes to different aspects of design. "Mycelium" is one of the most environmentally friendly materials there is, not only is it biodegradable, as it is essentially mushrooms, but in the growing process, the mushrooms actually suck up CO2 from the atmosphere to grow and keeps it locked inside the product. The lamp would be made out of 2 components, a lamp shade made out of mushroom mycelium mixed with the substrate, which in the prototype was brown rice as that speeds up the myceliums growth time, but in theory any natural material could be used, such as hay, wood pellets, different nuts or even sawdust. Many of the potential substrates are seen as "Trash" by their respective industries, such as sawdust, where as the lamp could use these materials to create something new. The base of the lamp would be made out of recycled and reused clay, keeping the products/concepts materials and life cycle as environmentally friendly as possible. The lamp also has a conceptual meaning behind it, which is that it's supposed to reduce the amount of consumerism in today's society and bring "slowness" back into the limelight. This entails that people purchase less items and that the items that they do purchase last a long time, but also speaks towards removing the "Time is Money" view from our society and being more in tune with nature, keeping our earth clean. The lamp itself is a constant reminder of these concepts, as mushrooms are very often associated with slow growth and nature. It also took inspiration from the "Sarracenia" plant, referencing the plant in the lamps name. It's form and function , as a tubular lamp, were chosen so the lamp can fit naturally into many different spaces and almost "light the way towards the future".

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with 5 key words.
Environmentalism

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Slowness

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Mycelium

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Consumer Society

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Green Materials

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of sustainability and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
One of the biggest key objectives of my concept/product was to introduce an incredibly environmentally friendly material into the limelight, a material that hasn't seen much widespread use so far, especially in the product design sphere, where I see it having much potential. The material itself uses substrate to grow, in the current prototype, brown rice was used, but any kind of natural waste material could be used, such as sawdust or hay.
As a material, it is CO2 negative, creating the lamp sucks CO2 from the atmosphere, it's fully biodegradable and would be a nice treat for plants and animals if just thrown into forest and it's message is nice and simple: scale down consumer society by buying less and use more green materials that are more in accordance with nature.
The message of the concept/product is a strong part of it's function, which is why it was designed to fit naturally into many different home/office environments.
The second part of the lamp, the base, is made out of recycled clay, to keep the life-cycle of the lamp as green as possible. Turning "Trash into Treasure" per say.
The electronic parts of the lamp use simple wires covered with a cloth-sewn coating of regional patterns.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
One of the key objectives of this concept/product, was to make it as naturally peaceable into different environments as possible, so people could put it into their living room, bedroom, office, many different places with many different styles whilst also naturally blending into those environments. For this, the main body of the lamp took inspiration from the "Sarracenia" plant, as tube-like forms are found a lot in nature and fit into many different environments, tying it's main aesthetic function of naturally blending in to different spaces with its environmental message. This project was mainly made for the Estonian ecosystem, where mushrooms and all things related to mushrooms are culturally very relevant and seen with a positive light. Every year thousands of Estonian go into the forests to pick wild mushrooms with their families, later cooking them into all kinds of delicious foods. The mushroom material visually gives off a mushroom feeling, creating an almost nostalgic visual experience for many Estonians. With the current iteration of the product, the outside wall is rugged and cracked, but this could easily be changed towards being more fuzzy, adding a mushroom-like texture to the lamp, which would be completely safe as at the of the lamp making process, the mushroom mycelium gets killed in the oven baking phase, yet would still retain it's fuzziness but being safe to touch for consumers. With the current prototype, only the inside wall is fuzzy and soft to the touch.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
When it comes to inclusion, the lamp itself was made using cheap and reused materials and was designed to last a long time, as the lamp can last for years if it doesn't get too much contact with water, as too frequent contact with large amounts of water could end up reducing the visual effectiveness of the lamp.
The message of the lamp advocates to a new societal model in two ways:
Firstly, it fights against consumer society and is a reminder for people to buy less things and live a life more in accordance with nature and our planet, thus reducing waste and influencing future designers to make products with a more sustainable life-cycle.
Secondly, it advocates towards using new and greener materials. Mycelium has potential in many different facets of design. It's a material that has also seen potential in architecture. It could be a material that in the future is used to create eco-friendly, cheap, sustainable and long lasting design solutions and one of this concepts/products aims is to bring this futuristic material to the forefront of design, as it shows great potential towards building a better world but isn't very well known.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the concept and civil society have been / will be involved in the concept and what has been / will be the impact of this involvement on the concept.
The message of the concept/product aims to change civil society and the impact of the message might change the habits of regular, everyday people towards a more conscientious and green approach towards living. This will in return produce less waste and inspire future designer/creatives to use more environmentally friendly materials when constructing their work.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and development of the concept. Please highlight what the added value of their engagement was
Local/regional stakeholders were not involved in this project in any way, apart from some feedback and advice from relevant teachers from the institution I study at. This concept/product was done purely by me and was very much a passion project.

Please explain which disciplines and / or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and development of your concept. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
The development of the concept/product involved mainly 2 disciplines, product design and mycology. The product designers role was integrating the materials seamlessly into the final product and choosing what form as well as materials to use and how to use them. The mycologist was consulted in finding out how the material "Mycelium" works and how effectively it can be integrated into the final project. The work between these two disciplines was quite fruitful, as the mycologist would give feedback and advice as to how to grow the final product and what conditions the mycelium needed to grow in the first place, as well as answering questions such as "What substrate to use", "How different substrates affect the final product", "How long it would take to grow different sized objects" and so on. The product designer took the previously discussed information and used it in experiments regarding mycelium. In the end, the product designer, through his experimentation, evaluated the required thickness of the walls of the mycelium lamp, as well as thought of and integrated the message of the concept/product into the projects final form and function.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the concept.
The innovative character lies within the material itself and how the material is used. The lamp is very much designed to be a cost effective, environmentally friendly, consumer product. Within the consumer world, there are nearly no products made with this material. The use of material mixed with the function of the concept/product as a lamp meant to seamlessly blend into different environments is what gives the lamp it's innovative character.

Please which elements of your concept could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
This concept/product can mainly be replicated and transferred to 3 different aspects.
The first is product design. This material has seen nearly no use in the product design sphere yet has a lot of potential in different industrial products such as furniture.
The second is the materials use itself in other fields such as architecture.
The third is that the message of the product is designed to change the methodology and approach towards designing products in the future, where the designer needs to take into account peoples needs, the worlds needs, societies need and cultural needs.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the concept addresses by providing local solutions
Mushrooms are found all around the world but are culturally very relevant in northern Europe and around the Baltic states. This product is designed to mitigate some of the waste and incessant energy use in the industrial design sphere by using culturally relevant local materials to make product that are sought after by the public. Products that will stand the stand the test of time both physically and conceptually. By using mycelium, we can cut out some global imports of certain goods and materials and instead switch those products with locally grown mycelium products, which due to the prevalence of mushrooms in this regions culture, would also last long as people wouldn't see a need for a replacement for this product, thus in turn calming down our consumer society and pushing people towards a more slow and consciences lifestyle.

Please attach the development plan of your concept. This plan should detail the plans you have for the further development and implementation of your concept, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application. The plan should also include envisaged results and benefits from the concept for direct and indirect beneficiaries. The results and benefits should be specified in relation to the objectives of the concept, and to what is expected in the context of the respective category

Development Plan.pdf
Please attach at least one high resolution image or visual representation of your concept to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below
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By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed concept has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the concept, initiative, and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their concepts, concepts, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted concept, concept is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes