Bewildering mushrooms: One Singapore firm is turning fungi into art

SINGAPORE – On her 32nd birthday, Ms Rong Choy received a 90cm-tall bouquet of lingzhi mushrooms tucked within spiralling cordyceps and white dried plants.

The $450 bouquet was a gift from her then boyfriend in 2021, and she loved it.

Ms Choy, a self-professed mushroom fanatic who loves these organisms for their colours, textures and ability to recycle nutrients, said the gift combined the things she loved – bouquets and fungi.

There are a number of companies here that farm mushrooms and fungi for food, including Bewilder, the firm behind Ms Choy’s bouquet. But this start-up is also doing something different with nature’s recyclers.

The company, founded in 2020, is turning fungi into bouquets and other beautiful things, and its creations have found some firm fans.

Ms Choy, a 34-year-old artist, said: “It’s something unique and special, it’s grown and cultivated right here in Singapore... and is a great reminder of the humble mushroom that plays such a unique role in... the environment.”

Ms Choy went on to tie the knot with her boyfriend. The bouquet he gifted her is the first one sold by Bewilder. It has remained intact for two years, and is now proudly displayed in the couple’s living room.

Bewilder’s founder, Mr Ng Sze Kiat, said his fungal bouquets are dehydrated and can typically last for about a year if kept out of direct sunlight and in an area with low humidity. The mushrooms are cultivated at the firm’s facility in Bukit Merah.

Mr Ng, 43, told The Straits Times he had started experimenting with fungal bouquets in the company’s early days because he wanted to find beautiful ways to present fungi and challenge the general mycophobic culture in Singapore. Mycophobia refers to a fear of fungus and mould.

In nature, mushrooms are found among leaf litter and other decaying matter. They play a key role as decomposers and turn organic material into nutrients.

“Our mycophobic society often associates fungi with death, decay and rot, but fungi also represent life and rejuvenation,” said Mr Ng.

He hopes to use Bewilder’s work to “shine a light on the beautiful side of fungi”.

A fungal bouquet from Bewilder starts from $250, based on the client’s requests. The mushrooms are grown from scratch by the company.

The company said it makes three to four bouquets a month, with fungal arrangements comprising just 15 per cent of its business. The rest of its operations are largely focused on farming mushrooms for restaurants.

Apart from bouquets, the mushrooms are also turned into tablescapes, leather, lamps and jewellery.

Ms Tzen Chia, who wanted her wedding to reflect her love for all things natural and wild, hired Bewilder to produce fungal tablescapes for the 2022 event held at the Marguerite restaurant in Gardens by the Bay.

“We wanted to celebrate the whole natural world and mycelium is a really big part of it,” said Ms Chia, 32, an architect.

The decor – which cost around $8,000 – consisted of rocks, mosses and different sculptures made of various species of lingzhi mushroom. They covered six tables for about 50 guests, who could take the mushrooms home afterwards.

She also gifted each guest one of Bewilder’s grow kits, which allow people to grow mushrooms at home. The kits contained species like pink oyster and lion’s mane mushrooms.

“Everyone was pleasantly surprised and so inquisitive about everything, seeing this (familiar) food in such a new light,” she said.

But growing mushrooms into art is no easy feat, said Bewilder’s mycological designer, Ms Kimberly Wee, 23.

Mushrooms grow towards light and oxygen, and the team “sculpts” the fungi into different shapes by adjusting the location of light sources and pumping carbon dioxide into certain areas of the growing room. It is a process that calls for constant attention and spontaneity.

“They’re not like plants, where you can water them every day, keep an eye on them and they will grow right. For mushrooms, you really have to be present,” said Ms Wee. Some popular mushrooms, like lingzhi, can take up to nine months to fruit.

“The biggest challenge is that mushrooms have a mind of their own. As much as we try to control the way they look and the final product, it’s always dependent on how the mushrooms choose to grow,” she said.

Sometimes, harvested mushrooms can look completely different from the project’s initial mock-ups and sketches, and designers must work around the new silhouettes to achieve the desired product.

But Mr Ng and Ms Wee said the unpredictable nature of these organisms is one of the joys of the craft.

No two people in the world will own the same mushroom work of art as every mushroom grows in its own manner, said Ms Wee.

Mr Ng agreed: “We really try to let them speak for themselves, let the mushrooms grow into themselves.”

Mushrooms also mostly come in deep, dark earthy hues, and while clients have asked them for bouquets made with coloured mushrooms such as the pink oyster mushroom, this is not possible as they do not hold up well in Singapore’s humid environment.

This is why Bewilder primarily works with lingzhi mushrooms, which naturally contain less water and hold their shape better once dehydrated.

Despite the challenges, Ms Wee said she is encouraged when her fungal designs spark conversations about mushrooms and their oft-overlooked beauty.

“It’s (about) looking at these organisms not as just something we eat, or something we see on the ground after a rainy day,” she said.

“It’s (about) giving them a stage to be admired as something beautiful, and as a very intricate part of nature that is not necessarily conventionally aesthetic.”