Earth is filled with miracles, a complex macrocosm that has long offered solutions to human problems, ready to use, to be discovered, or to be replicated. Fungi is one of these miracles, appearing billions of years before animals and plants. More than a biological system, it is a form of material intelligence, a living knowledge that informs how matter grows, connects, and transforms.
Over centuries, fungi have evolved into thousands of iterations, communicating through mycelium networks and leading to everything from mushrooms and fermentations to organic regeneration and medicine. Penicillin, for example, comes from a fungus. In this sense, fungi is not only a resource but a collaborator, shaping how we imagine the future of design and building.
In recent years, fungi has drawn a new generation of advocates who see the future embedded within this ancient intelligence. Across disciplines, designers and architects are looking to living systems not just for inspiration, but for instruction.
Among those seeking new solutions is Monterr Laboratory & Studio in the heart of Mexico City.
Monterr was founded by Federico Herrera and Maria Monteys in 2020, with its laboratory and studio opening in October 2025. Their story, however, began years earlier when they met in college studying industrial design. Federico recalls with a laugh, “Of course, as a gay man, I was in love with a beautiful and brilliant woman.”
Maria’s longstanding interest in nature led her to landscape design and early research into mushrooms as a material, while Federico’s path through sustainable design led to interior work and eventually to founding his art and design gallery in Tulum, SUMA, focused on consciously driven work. Their first collaboration came through a SUMA commission to present 14 mycelium artworks by Maria during Zona MACO. The success of the project revealed the potential in what they were co-creating and raised a deeper question about the intelligence embedded within materials.
The next step was clear: a laboratory and studio where those possibilities could expand.
