This new NGV exhibition is growing furniture from fungi and replacing plastic with plants

Furniture grown from fungi, plastic alternatives that react to sunlight and building materials made from hemp are among the ideas on show at a new world-premiere exhibition opening at the NGV this week.

Plant Life: The Nature of Design explores how plant-based materials could offer alternatives to plastics, synthetic products and other non-renewable materials, bringing together more than 60 works from Australian and international designers.

Developed in partnership with RMIT University, Plant Life is presented across four thematic chapters, featuring furniture, architecture, decorative arts, craft, photography and film from the NGV Collection, alongside recent acquisitions, international loans and a new RMIT commission.

Among the highlights is a suite of mycelium furniture by Aifunghi, which is grown from fungal networks cultivated in hemp hurd rather than manufactured using petrochemical materials.

Amsterdam-based designer Joris Laarman’s Ply Loop Chair replaces traditional plywood resins with a plant-derived bio-resin, while Crafting Plastics’ Sensbiom 2.1 is a plant-based material that turns pink when exposed to ultraviolet light.

The exhibition also looks to First Nations knowledge and longstanding relationships with the natural environment, featuring works made from materials including bull kelp, grass, tree bark, bamboo and Amazonian yaré vine.

Emma Håkansson’s documentary SHIRINGA: Fashion Regenerating Amazonia follows the Awajún people of the Peruvian Amazon, who use traditional methods to tap shiringa trees and produce plant-based leather without cutting down the trees.

A new RMIT commission, Mycelium Wildfire Jacket, explores the potential of fungi-grown materials for protective clothing, while EAST Architecture Studio’s AlMusalla Prize-winning pavilion incorporates reclaimed date palm waste.

The exhibition’s own display structures will also be made using Plantbord, an Australian-made hemp hurd board developed by Joost Bakker and Forest One and bound with plant-based bio-resin.

NGV Director Tony Ellwood AM said the exhibition offers tangible examples of how design can move beyond traditional materials.

‘This NGV-exclusive exhibition shines a spotlight on Australian and international designers who are using plant-based materials to radically transform our world.’

Plant Life: The Nature of Design is on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 28 August 2026 to 7 February 2027. More information is available via NGV.