SEE IT: Designers In London Making Furniture From Fungus

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LONDON (CBSNewYork) -- A furniture company in London is taking a novel approach to crafting its newest items.

Designers are combining wood with fungus to cut down on waste.

Sebastian Cox and his team mix the vegetative part of fungus with wood chips and add it to a mold. Then they wait for it to take shape.

Sebastian Cox shows off stools made from a mixture of fungus and wood chips

It took 18 months to make lampshades and stools. Cox said the items are getting an interesting reaction.

"Most people want to touch it, and there's a level of curiosity that they can't hold back," he said. "But some people touch it a bit like this (poking their finger at it), and some people go straight in and give it a stroke."

The designers are hoping to make tables and chairs in their next batch.