Mycastellium started as a simple idea, our great teacher Ms. Orietta wanted to bring an original idea to the Maker Faire. She opted for a sustainable but useful solution such as a lamp made up of a waste material to replace plastic. This waste material is a mushroom material called mycelium. We started with general ideas and some were very original, and then we turned them into reality.

For our second step, we went to a FabLab, a place that, using mechanically-commanded tools, turns files into reality. Using some files from tinkercad and Adobe Express, we made molds for our mycelium to grow. Keep in mind that this project started last year. We went on a school trip to the FabLab and waited for our mycelium to grow.

After a long wait, the mycelium took the shape of our molds and many of our lamps looked staggering as our young ideas truly came to fruition towards the end of the last school year. Having the shapes, though, isn't enough to call a random lump of waste material a lamp. We needed to make a lamp, well, a lamp by giving it what makes a lamp work like one: light.

We quickly started this school year by adding the finishing touches to our projects and wiring our lamps to make them work. Ms. Orietta taught us how to make the electrical connections and our sustainable idea to make plastic-free lamps was complete.

We are very proud of this endeavour. Grade 8, and our wonderful teacher Ms. Orietta will be able to show our projects to the world at this year’s Maker Faire taking place in Rome from 20th to 22nd October.   Come and visit us!