Reinventing pet soft toys with biomaterials
Play. Destroy. Throw away. Repeat. For many pets, soft toys provide an important behavioural and emotional outlet, but the synthetic materials they contain can create health concerns and persistent waste. Steppe asks what might happen if a toy’s lifecycle worked more like nature — where destruction becomes part of regeneration.
Founded by designer Zuriya Wang, Steppe has developed Loomyco, a patent-pending edible biocomposite soft toy designed to make pet enrichment safer, zero-waste and more fulfilling. Grown from loofah, mushroom mycelium, sugarcane, cereals and plant fibres, Loomyco is designed to keep functioning as it is destroyed, allowing dogs to shred, chew and eat what they tear apart, while leftovers can support new growth. The project forms part of Steppe’s wider practice of relational product design, exploring how everyday objects can create new relationships between humans, animals and the wider living world.