Our story
Grown is a biotechnology company creating high performance and natural products that are safe and sustainable. We support working together with nature.
In 2016, Grown started growing lamp shades, based on Ecovative’s GIY kits. Quickly after that, a pouf, a table and a wine cooler followed. This was the basis for a portfolio of interior products.
A logical next step in 2017 was packaging: mycelium composites have the perfect properties for packaging. They are shock absorbing, insulating, made of 100% biological raw materials and can be made in numerous shapes.
2018 was the year for a relocation of Grown to a bigger location in Hedel, and started working with Dutch made substrate. In some cases we even use other types of agricultural waste like cattail, sawdust or cork.
From the packaging industry it was only a small step to the world of building and construction. It has good insulation properties and can thus be considered as insulation panels. So far, we have insulated a few buildings, with success!
Mycelium is an ecological alternative to fossil-fuel based plastics such as expanded polystyrene (EPS) and expanded polypropene (EPP).
Mycelium arches grown by Grown, presented during
Milan Design Week.
So, what products?
Well, anything is possible. Any shape and size. Also, the look and feel of a product can be tuned to fit your unique needs. We can adjust mass, resilience and surface of the finished product. Contact us for special and custom requests. And/or take a look in our shop.
Grown products are found in interiors, packaging, building and construction. New possibilities arise constantly, such as production sets for TV shows.
What are the characteristics:
Renewable raw materials. No oil based sources, or products containing toxic elements
Limitless available, re-producable in Lab environment
Flexible; it can be designed to any specification or desired shape
Fire resistant
VOC free (Volatile organic compounds)
Insulating, both temperature as well as sound
Buoyant, did you know that even surf boards can be made?
Compostable, making the circle round
The magic process
We 3D print our reusable moulds with a renewable biopolymer, and we can shred and reprint them over and over again in-house. These moulds are filled with local agricultural waste, a little water and mycelium that binds it all together. We only have to wait for the structure to grow and gain its strength, which takes around a week. Once it’s full-grown and dried, it turns into a structural, stable and renewable product. And: at the end of it’s useful life our products can be used as fertilizer for our surroundings. Just break the product in pieces and let the composting process go on. This process and mycelium products are Cradle2Cradle Gold certified!
Have a look at this animation for 30 seconds – you will relax and understand the magic process of mycelium.
What good does it do?
Most modern products are made through energy intensive industrial processes and transportation. Grown makes the production cycle smaller, smarter and local. We grow our products using bio-based materials and organic waste streams. Mycelium is infinitely available and acts as the living glue to bind this organic waste. Let’s join forces to strive for a less plastic and oil dependent economy!
The material is literally grown, not manufactured. We use a growing organism to transform agricultural waste products like husks from hemp, flax and corn stalk into a beautiful protective product that is safe and natural.
The plant material produces oxygen during its life cycle, simultaneously binding CO2. Within our production process we try to minimise emission, opening its potential to create products with a negative ‘carbon footprint’. Instead of wasting less, we strive to absorb emission.
Grown focusses on greenest and cleanest production method imaginable on the planet. We search for ways to produce while absorbing emission. Is this revolutionary? Yes, because in the modern factories this has never been used. No, because mycelium is one of the oldest materials on our planet. We just use the power of nature to grow products.
After use, the product is fully compostable, and can be disposed without harming the environment. On the contrary, it will fertilize our surroundings!
Our factory
Grown.bio currently runs a factory in Heerewaarden, the Netherlands. In this factory we cove all steps from our base material, also known as substrate, to a finished mycelium product ready to be shipped. This includes:
- Mould making
- Substrate enriching
- Substrate filling
- Growing (in several stages)
- Drying
- Post treatment (e.g. painting, gluing, etc.)
- Packing (incl. packing your products in our Myco Packaging)
- Shipping
In 2020, Grown.bio rapidly evolved by further modernising the factory and significantly increasing its capacity. This has led to the exploration of new substrate types, the construction of larger growing areas and the automatization of the mould filling process. On top of that, the climate conditions have been optimised and the drying process has been made more efficient. All of this was co-funded with a grant by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Topsector Energy.
Grown uses Mycelium technology pioneered by Ecovative.
About EIT Climate-KIC
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