Mycelium of Japan: Between growth and craft
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Symbiosis Garden
Urushi is tree sap — a material as ancient as the craft it shaped. Harvested from lacquer trees across Southeast Asia, refined through traditional methods, yet never fundamentally altered. Naturally water-resistant and heat-resistant, it develops a distinctive gloss over time. For centuries, Japanese artisans have turned to Urushi because it simply works. Even today, it remains enduring, no synthetic additives, no compromise.
Mycelium lies hidden beneath the forest floor; the living network of fungi, not the mushroom itself, but the intricate system that sustains it. A web of fine, thread-like structures that build complex relationships with plants and soil, transforming what already exists into something new. It has been doing this quietly, effortlessly, for over a billion years. We recognised its potential; a material that grows, breathes, and returns to the earth. Our mycelium packaging, biodegradable and naturally cultivated, was recognised with the 2020 Wallpaper Design Award for Best New Grooming Product. Explore our mycelium packaging.
Designer Yu Watanabe brings these two materials together: Urushi lacquer applied to a mycelium substrate, revealing the wood chips and organic matter embedded within its surface. Traditional techniques such as Funmaki, where different types of powder are sprinkled in between layers of Urushi, create tactile landscapes that recall soil, wood, and stone. The lacquer’s deep gloss and enduring hardness elevate mycelium’s organic irregularity, allowing hidden textures to emerge.
The vases are shaped in moulds, giving each form a quiet consistency. Yet their surfaces resist repetition. The way the mycelium grows – spontaneous, shifting, and alive – ensures that no two pieces are ever the same.
Both Urushi and mycelium are biodegradable. Both come from living systems. And here, both are used in their purest form: Urushi as lacquer, mycelium as structure. Two elemental materials, each rooted in centuries of tradition, reimagined through contemporary craft.
The result occupies the liminal space between craft and production, between the designed and the grown. It’s an approach rooted in respect: for material intelligence, for time, for the quiet precision of natural processes. The project received the 2025 Overall Home Design award at the Only Natural Design Awards, alongside recognition from design institutions across Europe and Asia; a testament to what becomes possible when tradition meets the living world.
References: Yu Watanabe
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