Teaching Machines
Magical Mushroom Company® packages high-value audio equipment for Teaching Machines
Magical Mushroom Company® protects high-value audio hardware for Teaching Machines using eco-friendly Mushroom® Packaging. The packaging, made from mycelium, shields the high-precision equipment during transportation as well as future-proofing the environment
HIGH-VALUE EQUIPMENT
Teaching Machines makes innovative analogue audio hardware in Wales. The company, formed in 2022, is launching its first product the Wellspring: a solidly built reverb unit that is high precision and comes highly recommended by Sam Slater, the Grammy-winning composer.
Like the Earth, it is designed to be around for many years and like the Earth, it needs to be looked after.
Heavy cargo
The large heavy unit needs to be transported safely to recording studios, but without adding to the massive build-up of plastic waste such as polystyrene.
Any green packaging solution has to contain and keep safe not only the unit itself but other items such as the power supply, rubber feet and a rack for mounting ergonomically.
Mycelium vs polystyrene?
Teaching Machines sounded out Magical Mushroom Company® and found Mushroom® Packaging amply fulfilled these criteria and more.
To make a prototype, the MMC team first work on soft tooling: 3D-printing is used to make tray mouldings for the packaging.
The prototype of Mushroom® Packaging was then grown and tested for its shock-proof protective qualities: the results match polystyrene but Mushroom® Packaging feels and looks better.
The packaging was drop, vibration and edge-crush tested. It also withstood temperatures ranging from 70C to -25C and performed well in humid environments too.
Once the hard tooling met rigorous standards, the Mushroom® Packaging is then created to order. It is made in just days in our Attenborough plant - mycelium, which has a natural glue chitin, is combined with recycled agricultural by-products such as hemp.
Using mycelium not plastic
The planet is learning from Teaching Machines with more plastic removed from the supply chain.
The size and shape of the sustainable packaging, whilst offering full protection, is highly economical in terms of space for transportation.
Mushroom® Packaging biodegrades in around 45 days, so Wellspring customers can be confident that it is not going to be floating in the ocean annoying turtles like fossil-fuel-based plastics.
Why not use mycelium to replace your plastic packaging?
"Teaching Machines would love to continue working with the Magical Mushroom Company®"
"Our brand is built around longevity, accessibility, simplicity and fixability. Why would we build machines that last a lifetime and ship them in packaging that threatens the future? We felt we had to do as little harm as possible to the eco-system and had to display joined-up thinking with a company like Magical Mushroom Company®.
"Teaching Machines would love to continue working with the Magical Mushroom Company® in the future, we have plans for a lot more products and they will all need protection on their journey from our loving hands to our beloved customers."
Co-founder Mat Wigley