MNEMOSYNE – En kiste af mycelium / MNEMOSYNE – A coffin made of mycelium by Søren Overgaard Pedersen

Selvom døden er noget af det mest naturlige her i verden, byder vores kultur os at gøre døden til noget unaturligt, for eksempel når vi gemmer den døde væk i en kasse af spånplader. Designeren ønsker at bringe døden tættere på naturen, og har derfor gentænkt den traditionelle kiste. Den skal udelukkende fremstilles i mycelium, som er svampenes hvide rodnet, der både er et meget stærkt, men også let materiale. Desuden komposterer kisten hurtigt – og den afdøde ligeså. Men mindet står stadig stærkt, og derfor er kisten opkaldt efter Mnemosyne – erindringens gudinde.

Even though death is one of the most natural occurrences there is, our culture demands that we treat death as something unnatural, for example by hiding the dead person in a box made of chipboard. It is the designer’s intention to bring death closer to nature, and he has therefore rethought the traditional coffin. He believes it should be made exclusively of mycelium – the white root system of fungi – which is both a very strong but also a very light material. In addition, the coffin will compost quickly, as will the deceased. The memory, however, will remain strong, and that is why the coffin is named after Mnemosyne – the Greek goddess of memory and remembrance .