- Title: How 'mushroom leather' is used to make eco-friendly watch straps
- Date: 30th October 2019
- Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) WATCH SHOP CUSTOMER, NURCHOLIS IRVAN, LOOKING AT WATCHES (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) CUSTOMER, NURCHOLIS IRVAN, SAYING: "For now, I am very interested in the watch made with natural materials and plants because I'm allergic to a few watches I bought in the past; maybe it was not suitable or the raw material contained a substance from animals? That's why I'm very interested in those (plant-based) watches." VARIOUS OF WATCHES IN WATCH SHOP
- Embargoed: 13th November 2019 13:36
- Keywords: mushroom leather mushroom leather watch strap mycelium leather Mychotech Pala Nusantara leather alternative
- Location: JAKARTA / BANDUNG, WEST JAVA PROVINCE, INDONESIA
- City: JAKARTA / BANDUNG, WEST JAVA PROVINCE, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA004B3FF0PN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Wearing a watch with leather, rubber or plastic strap is common but the raw materials are deemed as less sustainable. On hope to create an eco-friendly watch, a watchmaker in Indonesia's Bandung worked with a local start-up to make mushroom wearable.
Known as mycelium leather, which name after the root structure of fungus, the mushroom grows on sawdust, where its complex root structure will form a strong bond with the growth medium in one month, before it was cleaned, dried and slice to various sizes depend on needs.
Mycelium leather technology is not new as similar research is carried out in United States. But taunted as the world's first company to use mycelium leather for watch in their kickstarter page, managing director of Pala Nusantara said they hope to be the market leader for sustainable material.
"The goal is to develop a product that really can relate to that, develop a product and try to be the market leader in sustainable material," said Andang Maulana Syamsuri.
The watches, set at selling price between IDR 900,000 to IDR 1,300,000 ($64 - $92), are mostly sold online, Syamsuri said.
Head of research of Mycotech, that supplied the leather, said their research was inspired by block-shaped Indonesian staple food, tempeh, fermented by soybean and type of fungus.
"We have been testing with different types of mushroom in 2016, and finally we found one (mushroom) which its mycelium can be made into binding material or glue for plank, building blocks as well as mycelium leather," said Erlambang Ajidarma.
Cost to make mycelium leather is lower compared to petroleum-based leather because it needs lesser water to grow, and emit minimum of carbon dioxide during production. The material only produces 0.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide, compared to 355,500 kilograms of carbon dioxide for cow leather, Ajidarma added.
Ajidarma's team use natural dye extracted from leaves, roots, and even food waste to add colours to Mycelium leather, which can absorb dye faster and better, resulting in cheaper production cost and more vibrant colours.
"We want to introduce this product made by mushroom to the public. There are still some clients who resisted to use it because it is was made by mushrooms and they worried about mold, and it would be toxic," said Ajidarma.
Produce a 10 square meters of mycelium leather takes about three-week of tedious process, production manager Putri Aulia said.
Taking a small step at one time, Ajidarma said ultimately the company hopes to create mycelium bricks to build eco-friendly houses.
(Production: Adi Kurniawan, Heru Asprihanto) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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