The Stella McCartney handbag made from magical mushrooms at new Scottish exhibition – just don’t eat them

Neither plants nor animals, fungi occupy their own niche in the kingdom of life. They have long been linked with folklore, magic and medicine.

Now a colourful new multimedia art exhibition is celebrating their remarkable diversity and versatility and their place in science, culture and innovation. Everything from sculpture and botanical illustrations to fashion, music and performance will be on show, all inspired by or made from mushrooms.

Highlights include a handbag designed by Stella McCartney, ‘living’ sculptures and interactive exhibits.

The show, Fungi Forms, is being staged at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and will form part of Edinburgh Art Festival. Installations, artworks and displays will be staged both inside and in the grounds.

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“The world of fungi has sparked the imagination of creatives ever since they were first discovered,” said Amy Porteous, creative programmes producer at RBGE.

“As scientists learn more about these incredible organisms, their potential uses in everything from fashion to design and engineering are more than we could have ever imagined.

Biotypes, a living sculpture by Simon Faithfull, will be on show at the Fungi Forms exhibition

“This exhibition taking over Inverleith House and spilling into the garden captures the artistic inspiration, design innovation and botanical wonder of the fascinating world of fungi. We’re delighted to be able to bring such a huge range of work to the gallery for this exhibition.”

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McCartney will exhibit her Frayme Mylo luxury handbag, the world’s first crafted from mycelium – the root-like structures of fungi.

“If we want to save all our skins from the consequences of the climate and biodiversity crises, we need to stop fashion’s use of animal leather and furs,” she said.

Fashion made from or inspired by mushrooms will feature in the exhibition including Iris Van Herpen’s intricate Scarab dress and Stella McCartney’s Frayme Mylo luxury handbag – the world’s first to be crafted from mycelium, the root-like structures of fungi

“Mushrooms present a vegan alternative that can be grown regeneratively, renewably and quickly – at the root of pioneering nature-based solutions that we have championed here at Stella.

“From material innovation to medicine, the potential of fungi for good is limitless and this is something I am excited to both celebrate and educate on through this exhibition.”

RBGE artist-in-residence Siôn Parkinson takes inspiration from the stinkhorn mushroom, a distinctive species with a phallic appearance and pungent aroma, for a series of performances and music installations, while folk musician Hannah Read will share tracks from her latest album, Fungi Sessions Volume 1.

Mr Parkinson said: “The reason we’ve always been drawn to mushrooms is because they’re closer to us than plants are in evolutionary terms, so there’s something about them that reminds us of ourselves. There is something magical about them.”

Artist Siôn Parkinson, pictured in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh herbarium, is part of the Fungi Forms exhibition

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Fashion designer Iris Van Herpen will share haute couture creations from her Roots of Rebirth collection.

“The aim was to create pieces that reference the intricacy of fungi and the entanglement of life that breathes beneath our feet,” she said. The immersive Aromatic Wheel of Fungi, by Willoughby Arevalo and Isabelle Kirouac, offers an olfactory adventure through the scents found in mushrooms.

Artist and designer Julie Beeler’s Mushroom Colour Atlas showcases the kaleidoscope of colours lurking inside various fungi with an interactive catalogue of 825 hues.

Vivid creations by Alexander Viazmensky and James Sowerby will join works by textile artist Amanda Cobbett, whose intricate sculptures capture the magic of the organisms in 3D forms.

Fungi Forms, which is free to enter, opens at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on August 2 and runs until December 8