Memento Mori, is a practice-based design project by Johanna Gilan that explores the ecological and emotional implications of furniture design

The project investigates how domestic objects - particularly upholstered seating - can be reimagined as part of regenerative cycles rather than waste streams. Drawing from principles of ecoliteracy, biomimicry, and cradle-to-cradle thinking, the work questions the permanence of synthetic materials and the ethics of comfort as currently practiced.

It proposes a different logic for upholstered design - one that does not resist time, but works with it. In place of plastic foams, flame retardants, and synthetic adhesives, this work turns to biological materials and circular construction. The resulting prototypes are not only soft and tactile, but also biodegradable. Their form is sculpted from a language of rest, their surfaces speak of fungal growth and urban traces. A designed to return to soil.

The process moves through hands-on trials, material cultivation, comfort testing, and visual development, always returning to one idea: that impermanence can be a design value.

Keywords: biodegradability, ecoliteracy, upholstered furniture, cradle-to-cradle, mycelium, Anthropocene