This graduation project is done with the Industrial Design Engineering faculty for the Master’s programme Integrated Product Design (IPD) and cooperating with the End Of Life Lab. Loop-Biotech is a Dutch start-up based at YES Delft and sells the product the ‘Living coffin’. A coffin made out of the living material mycelium. Loop’s purpose is to enrich nature and has the ambition to restore the human-nature relationship. Its objective is to grow its business and become a trend worldwide. The scope for this project concerns Natural burial in the Netherlands. 1. Introduction The reasons for the research are to ensure consumers’ wellbeing and meet their needs. The current design can cause stress and insecurities with the end-user and providers due to product failure and design mistakes. Internal communication with Loop showed a desire to improve the shape, experience and production process. The assignment of the project is to redesign the mycelium coffin to reflect and communicate the contribution to the cycle-of-life through aesthetics and create an experience to support the funeral ritual. The research will be used as input to realise this goal. As guidance for the development of mycelium or fungi-based products and growing in the funeral industry, the main research question is as follows: How can a mycelium funeral vessel be designed on a technical and experiential level to support and optimise its meaningful value in the funeral industry? 2. Research The research investigates five topics; These five topics mainly focus on providing insights about the current coffin, opportunities for the funeral ritual in the industry, the material and a contribution to the cycle-of-life. (1) The company: Research about the production, company and current coffin. The ‘coffin’ product perception causes failure and insecurities during usage. (2) The material mycelium: Testing the material’s performance with the MDD method shows it is possible to see and feel the material, which emphasises the material’s naturalness and ‘living’ characteristics. Additionally, the basic instinct of the material (to demolish) is suppressed, and products are shaped in basic shapes and forms. (3) The market: The funeral industry is changing and teaches us that it will move in four directions. Personalisation of mortuary rituals, increasing environmental awareness, high-quality services and death becoming a more accessible topic to talk about. (4) The end-users, researched through interviews and desktop research, are expected to follow the trends the funeral industry provides. They feel the need to mourn the death of someone, come together, perform a ritual and create a meditative experience that intends to help with emotional healing and thereby creating a memorable moment through a greener burial ritual. (5) The providers are researched through interviews and desktop research. Providers want to present consumers with product and service options that are sustainable and biodegradable. The natural burial trend meets the needs and offers opportunities. Since they do not want to overkill the consumer, simplicity and back-to-nature will become more popular styles to offer. 3. Design direction With the improvement of design elements, this project will showcase an experience supporting and enriching the funeral process experience using aesthetics and rituals. “Design a funeral vessel that includes an optimised mould system for sustainable production and product-use, while creating a memorable moment when life comes to an end”. The challenge is to create a different product perception. The ambition for the redesign is to distance the consumer’s perception from a coffin and stimulate perception as a vessel or Cocoon for the body. 4. Ideation The diverging phase, described in this chapter, shows the search for a design that fits the design direction. It investigates possibilities that are used later on during the concept design phase. Methods such as collage-making, brainstorming, sketching, and a speedform study are selected, and the required physics are investigated. All the requirements and wishes eliminate ideas that do not meet these demands. The ideation resulted in three concepts. 5. Conceptualisation For the concept design phase, three concept designs are developed equally. The design process of the three concepts is visualised. Different elements (the shape, the interaction and the production) are worked out apart. 6. Final Design The research, ideation and conceptualisation resulted in the redesign of The Loop Cocoon. To allow the transformation from death into new life, restore a connection with nature and create a memorable moment when life comes to an end. 7. Recommendations and discussion The recommendations concerning the aesthetics, samples, functional development, sustainability, the assembly process and costs are discussed. They can be used as future steps to develop the Cocoon into a fully functional product. The discussion provided a project evaluation and personal reflection.

If 10 people would answer the question “What falls into the category grooming and what is beautification?” there would be 10 different answers. For some, grooming does not go beyond taking a shower and brushing your teeth. But what about shaving? Or make-up? And a question that arose during quarantine: how important are hairdressers? Most people agree that cosmetic surgery does not belong in the realm of grooming anymore, but how about using injectables? This is where the discussion gets interesting. In this thesis the focus lies on the twilight zone of beautification, meaning on minor surgeries, injectables and trends that normalize enhancing your beauty in a way, that technically can be considered surgery, but are not perceived as such by the public.

Firstly, the phenomenon Beauty Ideals was explored. While thoroughly researching this phenomenon, the Vision in Product Design was used to create six clusters, or overarching themes. Three of these clusters were chosen to design for. In order to create design for debate and awareness, critical design theory was applied to create three designs. For each design a dystopia was written, and a prototype was built and a scenario photo was made. The combination of these three, show three problems that could arise when we choose to beautify to an extent to which we can no longer return to natural.

First of all, the Wishbone is a face jewel that reflects how beautification affects our metal health. Often we beautify ourselves because we want to become happier, but research shows, that rarely ever this is the case. Short term happiness is achieved, but on the long run, on average, people become more discontent with themselves and the way they look. The design of the Wishbone reflects how we limit ourselves in the way we feel and express ourselves. Taking the current developments, such as preventive Botox, to an extreme, people will physically be unable to move their faces in a way that is healthy for both the brain and the body.

Secondly, the Tulip is a chair that reflects how beautification affects our relationships. The way we want to make ourselves look better, stands in the way of pleasant touch and how we perceive touch. Again, taken to an extreme, we see that an extremely important part of human connection is limited, muted or avoided all together.

Lastly, the Cloud is a ‘My-First-Botox-Kit’ that reflects how beautification affects our daughters and the generations to come. Having small amounts of Botox and fillers injected seems innocent, but young children, are vulnerable and susceptible to everything they see around them. Especially when it comes to their direct environment. Using injectables as a mother, aunt, teacher or other type of role model, gives off a signal to the younger generation that they are not good enough the way they are.