Mycelium Materials

Monday 14th September 5:30 - 7:30pm
11 Hopper Street

What the heck are mycelium materials? Mycelium is like the root structure of fungi. We often imagine fungi as the mushrooms we see above ground, but these are their reproductive organs. Fungi can be huge networks of mycelium that grow through the soil, throughout leaf litter, logs, even connecting the roots of trees. 

At this workshop guest artist Maria and Micro Mill host Genevieve will be discussing their experiences working with mycelium to form usable materials for interior architecture and beyond. Together we will explore the wonderful world of fungi as we go through the process of setting up mycelium materials to grow. You will take home one or two material samples and be able to watch them grow over the coming weeks. 

If you have a container or three that you're willing to sacrifice to the fungi please bring them along, otherwise all materials and tools will be supplied.

Maria Eveline Walker was born in Tāmaki Makaurau and raised in Waimakariri, just north of Ōtautahi. She studied architecture in Te Whanganui a Tara, where her master's thesis grew mycelium bio-composites, exploring their sensory qualities. That early fascination with living, changeable materials has stayed with her: she now works as a circular economist and is an avid hobbyist and advocate for more circular practices and bio-based materials in everyday life - including building mindsets that accept the temporality and sometimes uncontrollable nature of these materials, rather than resisting it. In March 2026 she founded the Bio-Based Building Network of Aotearoa, which she now co-chairs, growing a community around bio-based materials in the built environment. Outside of work, she practices crafts - embroidery, weaving, beading, and chainmaille - as a form of somatic therapy and mindfulness.

Genevieve is a facilitator and artist working with textiles, nature, community, and exploring how these interconnect. The Micro Mill was born out of the intersection of these passions, where artists and crafts people can feel supported, live in their values, grow in their practices, and as teachers of their crafts. While being the driving momentum behind the Mill, Genevieve continues to develop her own art practice and create materials with care for our ecosystems at the forefront. Multispecies philosophy guides her work as she creates textiles alongside spiders, bugs, fungi, and other non-human organisms. Genevieve’s work invites a sense of connection to the smaller beings within our ecosystems, each other, and the abudance of materials around us. She has dreams of a circular textile economy working within the ecosystems of Aotearoa.

Both Maria and Genevieve are founders of the Bio-Based Building Network Aotearoa.

A portion of all Generous tier tickets goes towards free workshops for community organisations like the Wellington Women's House.