The Future of Manufacturing

I am sitting here on a chair made out of a mushroom in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco talking to Braden Weeks Earp, the Director of  the Workshop Residence, a place of  brilliant artistry, reuse, and relocalizing supply chains and bringing manufacturing back to America.

The mushroom-chair is the brainchild of Phil Ross, no doubt inspired by Paul Stamets. Can it be that manufacturers are catching on to the solution that lies in the wonderful world of mycelium? Check out this amazing TED talk from Ecovative’s Eben Bayer. We don't have to look farther than our own backyard, however. Here in San Francisco, Phil Ross is prototyping building blocks made out of waste materials and mycelium that we could potentially use for building our houses. Ecovative just finished the first of such "Mushroom Tiny Houses" with the mycelium acting as the insulation and primary structure for the house walls.

As always, it is good to see that people are bringing manufacturing back to America in a way that nurtures people, treasures handcrafted goods, and heals the planet. I remain, humbly, awed and inspired by the ingenuity and creativity of good people all around.

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