Mycelium

Loop Living Cocoon™

Loop Cocoon: a project to build a coffin from the material mycelium.

The Loop Cocoon is the world’s first living coffin. The Cocoon is grown with mycelium, which gives your human nutrients in the most natural way back to nature while relenishing the soil. Let your valuable nutrients enrich the soil and be a source for new life to thrive. Mycelium is the underground fungal network of mushrooms. If you walk in the woods and spot a mushroom, this might look like an individual plant or organism, but actually, this mushroom is the fruiting body of the underground organism called mycelium.

In nature mycelium is known as the world’s best recycler, converting dead organic material into key nutrients for plants. A staggering ninety-two percent of all plant species rely on its ability to collaborate with microorganisms to do this. Why wouldn’t we cooperate in this? It’s our mission to bring human nutrients back into the natural cycle-of-life in the most natural way. In only thirty to forty-five days the mycelium coffin itself has become one with nature again, after which its mission to clean the soil starts. Thanks to our modern life, the human body contains toxins like metals, oils and microplastics. With traditional burial methods, these toxins could pollute the soil. But the Loop Cocoon neutralises these toxins, collaborating with bacteria and microorganisms, converting them into nutrients for new life. With the Loop Cocoon, the human body can quickly become a valuable source for nature, while enriching and cleaning the soil and allowing new seedlings to thrive.

Making process

The coffin is not manufactured but grown. The mycelium grows into the Loop Cocoon mould, which is filled with wood chips, allowing the mycelium to grow and act as a self-assembling biological binder. After seven days the mycelium has grown into the complete shape of the coffin, after which it’s naturally dried. This stops its growth and gives the coffin its strength. The result is a unique, waterproof coffin that will only continue to grow again after long exposure to groundwater.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.