Chief Mycelium Officer Maurizio Montalti

Founder, Designer & Creative Director @Officina Corpuscoli

Chief Mycelium Officer, Co-founder@SQIM / ephea / mogu

BIO

Maurizio Montalti is a designer, researcher, educator and entrepreneur. He is Founder and Creative Director of Amsterdam based design-research practice Officina Corpuscoli (est. 2010), where he develops projects investigating inclusive and regenerative opportunities for the establishment of symbiotic relations among the spheres of living, and beyond.

The studio’s projects mostly stem from critical explorations in regard to contemporary material culture as well as on a continued attempt to decipher the way in which human and non-human agents come together within the relational complexity of the dynamic ecosystem we belong to. By distilling research and analysis through the materialisation of tangible narratives, his work strives for the creation of visions and conditions that allow for critically resonant experiences.

Working at the junction of design and biotech, Montalti is one of the early pioneers committed to the study and development of wide-ranging mycelium-based technologies, focusing on the creation of multiple classes of innovative biomaterials and of the related artefacts and products.

Lead by the ambition of scaling up and democratising access to mycelium-based products, in 2015 Montalti also co-founded SQIM, the innovative (bio-)technology company, where he serves as Chief Mycelium Officer. Fundamentally rooted in the valorisation of residual materials’ streams by means of microbial fermentation, SQIM develops unique production processes and products by unravelling the potential of fungal mycelium as key biofabrication agent for applications across multiple industries, primarily addressing today the Interior Design/Architecture market as well as the Fashion/Automotive market, through its business lines/brands mogu and ephea.

Furthermore, Montalti has extensive experience in education, priorly serving as Artistic Director and Tutor of dieDAS - Design Akademie Saaleck (DE), co-heading the MAD Master (Materialisation in Art and Design) at Sandberg Instituut - Amsterdam, researching at Design Academy Eindhoven, and teaching, lecturing, and mentoring in various Dutch and international academies and universities. Montalti’s work has been honoured with multiple awards, featured widely in the global media, and globally exhibited in prestigious musea, galleries, and institutions, including Museum of Modern Art (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Design Museum (London), Triennale (Milano), MAXXI (Rome), MAK- Museum of Applied Arts (Vienna), Nobel Prize Museum (Stockholm), among many others.

WEB & @SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES

Website: https://www.sqim.bio
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sqim-mycofoundry

ephea
Website: https://www.ephea.bio/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ephea_mycelium
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/epheamycelium

mogu
Website: https://mogu.bio/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mogumycelium
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mogumycelium
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mogumycelium

Officina Corpuscoli
Website: https://www.corpuscoli.com/
LinkedIn OC: https://www.linkedin.com/company/officina-corpuscoli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corpuscolo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Corpuscoli