SQIM

SQIM Logo v_2 modified white mycelium unbound
MISSION

We bring Nature
closer to People
in everyday Life

SQIM is founded on the belief that innovative natural materials hold the promise for the creation of a near future where human activities and the rhythms of the larger ecosystem are not in conflict with each other. .

Accordingly, driven by Nature’s intelligence, at SQIM we disrupt the way things are made by creating innovative technologies and products which are kinder to the planet.

Combining the potential of mycelium-based biofabrication with a deep understanding of the biology behind it, and leveraging on multiple other natural technologies and ingredients, today SQIM is serving its own business lines with advanced processes, addressing different markets and applications.

Thus, aiming to establish technological standards on a global scale with a positive impact on Planet and People, building a legacy for future generations. 

MYCELIUM UNBOUND

A Radically
Generative
Production Paradigm

Fungi are the natural agents creating ecosystems: their principal role is to sustain life on this planet, and to unmake, regenerate and restore broken systems. Mycelium is their tight network of branching filamentous cells, capable of forming different types of structures. 

At SQIM we feed mycelium with organic residues and low-value inputs from other industries, and we guide it through our custom fermentation processes, letting it assemble in a variety of materials, whose properties vary according to the specific applications targeted.

Thanks to SQIM’s unique approach and to the powerful chemistry that fungi are capable of, Mycelium is the ideal partner allowing for shifting from an exploitative to a thoroughly generative paradigm rooted in bio-fabrication, and remodelling the way we produce things. 

SQIM’s solutions can be rapidly grown and finished, defining entirely novel materials’ categories.

As of today, SQIM has developed unique proprietary processes for creating a variety of  solutions and products, primarily targeting the Fashion market and the Interior Design & Architecture market, through SQIM’s business lines/brands, respectively ephea and mogu.

An unprecedented class of naturally
superior, functional, high quality
materials, for fashion and beyond

With ephea™️, SQIM brings to market an entirely new class of flexible mycelium materials.

ephea™️ is not a leather replacement, but rather a set of products setting a new standard, thanks to the values, functionalities and overall opportunities provided by mycelium-based biofabrication. 

Ranging from an appreciation for its premium haptics, to the effective reactivity along processes of chemical transformation, ephea™️ has received recognition by high-end industrial actors exposed to the product, evaluating it as the leading mycelium-based alternative.

Thanks to the achieved products’ quality, today SQIM has partnered with prestigious fashion and luxury brands to launch in the market the most innovative and well-performing mycelium based products, while actively engaging with leading industrial entities to conduct ephea™️ towards commercial scale.

A revolutionary and collaborative work for contributing to a more ethically and environmentally responsible fashion industry.

Find out more about ephea™️

ephea™️ first market launch took place in March 2022 at Paris Fashion Week, as part of Balenciaga’s Winter 2022 runway show, during which the brand debuted its Maxi Hooded Wrap Coat realised with ephea™️, followed by a commercial release in November 2022 of the limited edition coat, which was made available to Balenciaga’s customers in selected stores worldwide.

Stefano Babbini, CEO of SQIM, commented: 

“It is an absolute privilege to finally be able to introduce EPHEA™️ to the global community. Our teams have been working very hard since more than 5 years, driven by the purpose of raising the standard of mycelium flexible materials, for delivering a truly concrete impact in industry. Naturally, ephea™️ is also the outcome of well-established partnerships, which are fully coherent with our positioning in the European leather and alternative leather industries, through overall integration within the related value chains.”

READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Image courtesy of Balenciaga

Innovative Products for Interior Design & Green Building

mogu products hold a concrete vision of home, offices, retails, and spaces that embraces the radical character of Nature, to grow a more honest and virtuous relationship with the ecosystem we are part of.

Along the years, mogu created a unique products’ portfolio over two main lines, namely Acoustic Panels and Flooring Systems.
Thanks to the great aesthetics and their certified technical performance, mogu’s innovative products have captured the interest of both professional and casual users.

mogu Acoustic products are the first commercially available articles of their kind, entirely made of fungal mycelium and of upcycled textile residues. Thanks to their unique technology, mogu Acoustic represents today the most sustainable solution dedicated to acoustic comfort in interior environments.

mogu Floor is a collection of resilient flooring systems for interior design, strongly based on the combination of technologies that rely on upcycling of agro-industrial residues; a perfect solution to support a circular approach within the building industry. 

While keeping expanding its products’ portfolio and supported by independent recognitions for the marketed products and the high quality and standards achieved, mogu is today also widening its market thanks to multiple prestigious industrial partnerships.

Find out more about mogu.

TECHNOLOGY

We employ Nature as the ultimate engineering and manufacturing platform, leveraging billions of years of evolution

SQIM is constantly working on improving and developing cutting edge research and intensive experimentation, to deliver technologies at industrial scale, allowing for GROWING unprecedented materials and products through fermentation.

At SQIM’s core is an advanced R&D unit, committed to evolving mycelium technologies with competence and creative ingenuity, while blending them with an industrial approach rooted in vertical farming, as based on a continued synergic interaction between the domains of research and production. Thus, allowing SQIM to master both the micro and the macro dimensions of mycelium-based fabrication.

Furthermore, SQIM’s technologies benefit from the thorough access to the supply chain and to the vertical actors, resulting in an already proven capability to build strong partnerships and develop brands.

Thanks to the expertise of its Team and to its wide network of collaborators, SQIM is committed to change the way things are made, through concrete, innovative, environmentally responsible solutions.

IN A NUTSHELL, SQIM IS ...

CO-CREATIVE

No matter if interacting with microbial cells or with clients, our work is driven by the will of establishing beneficial symbioses. At the core of our activities lies a strong collaborative approach, to co-design and co-create with multiple partners, while learning, growing, and evolving together.

RADICAL

At SQIM we partner with Nature to make things better. We nurture tradition through the introduction of a radical paradigm shift expressing revolutionary potentials for production. Accordingly, beyond any form of shallow substitution or replacement, we evolve new standards that were priorly unthinkable of.

UNBOUND

SQIM’s technologies and products are fundamentally rooted in (re-)generative processes, offering unconstrained opportunities, as opposed to extractive approaches and to their inherent limitations. We fuse our advanced technological capabilities with the unique skills of our microbial partners, to create improved and bespoke sustainable solutions with multiple added values.

SENSUOUS

The products resulting from SQIM technologies incorporate elegance and sensuality, as expressed through the unique touch and to the warm feelings that they elicit. By delivering high technical performance as well as unique haptic experiences, they represent the perfect match between a truly responsible high-quality choice, and the ultimate form of sophistication.

SUSTAINABLE BY NATURE

From Scarcity
to Abundance

SQIM’s technologies are fully rooted in Circular Economy principles, and rely on partnering with fungal microorganisms, employing their mycelium as key intelligence to transform different typologies of residual substrates. Hence allowing to create high-value materials and products within short timeframes and with minimum energy inputs.

Once obtained, raw materials are transformed in innovative, functional products through further engineering steps, to offer versatility without compromising on quality and ecological responsibility.

Thanks to its unique, proprietary processes, SQIM’s technologies set the grounds to design a new material world that is responsibly rooted in re-generation, as driven by the desire to literally engage with life and for life.

CONTACTS

Keep in touch
with us



    SQIM
    Via San Francesco d’Assisi 62
    21020 Inarzo (VA)
    ITALY

    General inquiries: contact@sqim.bio
    Job opportunities: careers@sqim.bio