Will we grow furniture from labs in the future?

You might have already heard about lab grown meat. Now American researches from MIT might have found way to "grow" wood in a laboratory, without the need for any sunlight or soil. This could have massive benefits for the environment and ease the impact on the forest and agricultural industries. It could in turn also be the future of more sustainable furniture.

The process that has been used is similar to 3D printing, where a gel is used to plant cells into the shape that is desired. It is complex, and will likely not fit for all plants even when it has been developed further. The initial studies have been conducted using a zinnia plant, a member of the daisy family.

The technology could be used to create wooden parts or planks, with furniture being one of the possible uses. Growing something like a table would however likely be a very slow process, maybe a few months. This is of course still a lot faster than growing a tree for 20 or 30 years! The technology is still very much at experimental stage and not market-ready, but the team behind it is hopeful it will be in the future after the recent break throughs.  

"It's a great vision and people have really picked up on the concept. It's a problem many of us are aware of and want to be a part of solving, so I'm hoping that we generate some more interest and get more people involved to make this really happen." Ms Beckwith, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge.

At Zenkki we are all about sustainability and innovation, read about our purpose here.