How Biodesign Is Rewiring Our Relationship With Nature

Human beings have never been external to nature; we are its continuation, not its exception. And still, modern societies act as if the natural world is a resource to be used instead of a system to which we belong. Sociologist Bruno Latour has reminded us, "We have never been modern", that the supposed divide between humans and nature is a cultural invention, not a reality. Our forests, rivers, and climates are not passive backdrop; they are social actors that shape economies, migrations, and even identity. Their exploitation is a mirror of power dynamics, colonial, capitalist, and extractive, that estrange us from our natural bases. To question our relationship with nature, therefore, is to question how societies are organized and for whom.

“Rethinking our systems begins with rethinking our bond to nature. Biodesign is that radical shift made tangible.”

If to ask about our relationship with nature is to interrogate our systems, then biodesign is one of the most radical answers. Biodesign is not a design movement, it's an ideology, one that opposes the artificial binary of human-built and natural. Founded on biomimicry, it looks to nature not as a catalog of resources to be extracted, but as a library of knowledge and processes honed over a billion years. From mycelium bricks to algae-based fabrics, biodesign brings together science and art to create sustainable materials with resilience, adaptability, and circularity; attributes that nature has mastered so effortlessly.

This transition marks more than technological advancement; it marks a shift in culture. Designers and scientists are shifting from controlling ecosystems to working together with them, from treating nature as an object to engaging with it as a co-creator. Driven by an abiding respect for nature's intelligence, biodesign refuses industrial models of exploitation and instead imagines regenerative futures. It is a sociological transformation: design no longer bulldozes into the world but grows alongside it.

“Biodesign is not about objects, it’s about systems: regenerative, interconnected, alive.”

– Caity Duffus

Photo by Benjamin Fenton for MYCOAUDIO

The very core of biodesign's regenerative spirit is one of nature's most remarkable architects: mycelium. In the last ten years, forward-thinking designers have embraced it not just as a material but as an ideology. Architects such as The Living (David Benjamin) have pioneered the use of mycelium for structures, while designers like Maurizio Montalti and design studios like Mogu have used fungal networks to create acoustic panels and flooring. In furniture making, the Jonas Coffee Table by LI-AN-LO is one way that mycelium can create elegant, organic forms without the need for extractive manufacturing, while Mycelia House by Caity Duffus is an exploration into what a completely regenerative dwelling could be like grown from living systems rather than made through conventional means.

“Biodesign is a manifesto against the artificial divide between human and nature; it grows where systems fail.”

– Antoine Provencher, Founder of MYCOAUDIO

Where mycelium has a regenerative and connective philosophy, MYCOAUDIO sonifies this philosophy. The brand, established by Antoine Provencher, is an experimental project where sound design, biotech, and ceramics meet. Provencher's design speculates on the everyday object, the speaker, not just as a playback technology, but as an ecological being, grown and formed by living systems.

Photo by Samuel Pasquier for MYCOAUDIO

Every MYCOAUDIO speaker is unique, merging Raku-fired ceramic casings with mycelium core insulation, replacing the usual plastic foam substrates that dominate the audio universe. It's not second-thought sustainability as marketing; it's a material statement, proving that high-fidelity audio can coexist in balance with natural, regenerative materials. Each speaker is the result of patience and intentional play, a process that views sound less as engineering and more as art. An act of curiosity, experiment, and hands-on craftsmanship.

Photos by Samuel Pasquier for MYCOAUDIO

Along the way, MYCOAUDIO redefines audio technology. It moves beyond the clinical, industrial visions of electronics and instead embraceth an organic, haptic lexicon informed by biology and nature's wisdom. Sound and earth come together here, technology and cultivation blur, and the instruments we use every day live on as reminders of a different culture of innovation; one where innovation is cultivated, not harvested.

With such a sense of innovation in mind, MYCOAUDIO is proud to unveil the completely revamped re-designed EK1 Bookshelf Speaker, a sophisticated evolution of the original that pushes the boundaries of acoustic looks and material wisdom. The EK1 represents the company's ongoing mission to discover how nature and technology can be combined to produce new ways of experiencing the senses. As with all MYCOAUDIO products, the EK1 features the company's own mycelium insulation, a refined acoustic technology using biodegradable, bio-fabricated material design. Not only does this natural insulation deliver crystal-clear and warm audio quality, but it also redefines what high-fidelity sound can be visually and sensually; organic, haptic, and regenerative instead of sterile and extractive.

Photos by Samuel Pasquier for MYCOAUDIO

With the uptake of mycelium, we're not merely picking a material; we're opting for an ideology. One that rejects the linear, extractive model that has dominated design and production for generations, and instead aligns itself with nature's regenerative wisdom. By operating locally, building up instead of taking down, and replacing petrochemical substrates with living, degradable systems, businesses such as MYCOAUDIO prove that technology and ecology are two sides of the same coin, not competing forces.

“When we design with life, we design for life and that changes everything.”

– Antoine Provencher, Founder of MYCOAUDIO

The question is no longer whether we can integrate these living systems into design, but whether we are willing to embrace a culture that values regeneration over consumption, connection over separation, life over convenience. Could every product we make become part of a regenerative cycle, not a disposable one?

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Words: Simone Lorusso