Karime Saad
Art, engineering, and better uses for waste.
I'm a biomaterials designer based in Brooklyn, NY and El Paso, TX. I grow and build objects out of mycelium, bioplastics, and bioceramics, usually starting from something that would otherwise be waste. Art, design, and better uses for waste are what pulled me into this, and a background in engineering is what makes me want to figure out how it all actually gets made.
Selected work
No. 01
Mycelium Table
Grown from spent chocolate oyster blocks from Full Circle Mushrooms in Las Cruces, NM
A functional coffee table with a glass top set into a grown mycelium base. I designed the form, built the mold, and grew the piece over several weeks from spent mushroom blocks that had already finished fruiting.
Watch the process ↗No. 02
Ceramic Lamp with Coffee Bioplastic Shade
Shade made using spent coffee grounds
A hand-built ceramic base paired with a lampshade made from coffee-ground bioplastic. The base was built using the coiling method. For the shade, I dried and processed spent coffee grounds, set them in an agar-based bioplastic with glycerin as a plasticizer, and poured it flat into a sheet before shaping it. The shade is thin enough to pass light through, so the grounds read as texture when the lamp is on.
No. 03
Cacao Shell Painting, commissioned by Cacao Coyatoc
Cacao bean shells from Cacao Coyatoc, El Paso
An acrylic painting with real cacao shells embedded in the surface, drawing on the Mayan legend of cacao. Commissioned by a local cacao shop whose own shells became the material.
See more ↗No. 04
Mycelium Hanging Lamp
Grown from spent mushroom blocks from El Paso Mushroom Co., El Paso
A pendant lamp grown from spent mushroom blocks. I set the mounting ring in place before packing the substrate, so the mycelium grew around and through it. The fixture ended up structurally part of the piece rather than attached to it.
See more ↗Farm work is studio work
Where the material comes from
I work part-time on mushroom farms in Queens and El Paso, which is where most of my material comes from. Spent substrate blocks get thrown out by the hundred after they finish fruiting, so I take them and grow them into something else.
The farms are also where I learned cultivation properly: working from grain spawn through inoculation, keeping everything sterile, and understanding why contamination happens rather than just avoiding it. Working from spent blocks is a choice about waste rather than a limitation, and I can grow a piece from spawn when a project calls for it.
About
My background is in software engineering, and I spent about five years running operations and engineering teams before this. That's still how I approach material work: testing systematically, keeping notes, changing one variable at a time. Alongside the biomaterials I keep a studio practice in ceramics and acrylic painting, and they sometimes end up in the same piece. I still take on independent software work.
Along the way
Independent Developer & Technical Consultant · Remote
Full-stack custom software development and technical consulting.
2026–
Operations Assistant · Cam's Urban Farm, Queens, NY
Substrate prep and pasteurization through fruiting, harvest, and packaging, across six strains. The farm supplies weekly farmers markets, restaurants, and a grocery distributor.
2026–
Operations Manager · El Paso Mushroom Co., El Paso, TX / Remote
Ran the farm on my own while the owner was away, from fruiting and contamination control through harvest, packaging, and sales to the shop we supplied. Now training and supporting the two-person team remotely.
2026–
Independent Biomaterials Designer & Fabricator · Brooklyn / El Paso, TX
Specializing in mycelium composites and biopolymers using local organic waste.
2025–
Member · Genspace NY, Brooklyn, NY
Community biolab in Brooklyn. Currently developing a mycelium and textile-lint composite
2025–
Operations & Software Engineering Manager · EPCOM / Syscom Colombia
Ran branch operations and engineering for a multinational company of 100+ employees. Built the company's website, ERP, and inventory systems. Managed a team of 10+ engineers.
2020 – 25
Software Engineer · Target Corporate, Minneapolis
Developed internal tools across POS, ERP, and inventory. Front-end to back-end.
2018 – 20
Education
MBA, with Honors · UT El Paso
2020 – 22
B.S. Electrical & Computer Engineering · UT Austin
Technical track in Software Engineering and Design
2013 – 17
Exhibitions & Collaborations
Showcase at Cacao Coyatoc · Craft cacao shop, El Paso, TX
Showed the mycelium table alongside bioplastics and bioceramics made from the shop's own cacao shells, some combining cacao shell and eggshell in an algae-based binder.
2026
Commission for Cacao Coyatoc · Craft cacao shop, El Paso, TX
Commissioned acrylic painting with cacao shells embedded in the surface.
2026
Circular Design for Climate Mobilization (CDCMo) · MADE Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, NY
A six-week exhibition of furniture, lighting, and sculptural objects made from organic and recycled waste, from orange peels and olive pits to textile waste, by independent makers from New York and abroad. Weekly public programming on design, waste, and ecology ran throughout. Founder Liana Scobie directed the project and I ran it with her as a two-person team, handling all graphic design along with social media and production.
2025
Get in touch
Open to commissions, collaborations, workshops, and material consulting.
© 2026 Karime Saad · Brooklyn, NY & El Paso, TX