Sustainable Brand AMEN Is Swapping Out Plastic for Mushrooms

To celebrate Earth Day, head over to Bergdorf Goodman in New York City and revel in some sustainable (and not to mention gorgeous) candles.

AMEN (opens in new tab), which makes luxe, non-paraffin wax candles, is making strides when it comes to sustainable packaging. As opposed to using non-sustainable plastic, AMEN is committed to their biodegradable and top shelf-worthy packaging made from mushroom roots. For anyone who's binged Fantastic Fungi (opens in new tab), you may already know that the roots, called mycelium, creates a network on the forest floor that allows trees and other plant life to communicate with one another. Think of it like nature's Internet.

The brand's Uruguayan-born founder Rodrigo Garcia wants to educate people on how a world without plastic is possible: "When plastics were invented in 1907 they were crazy expensive. Through cost efficiency plastics became so cheap that now it is impossible to live one day without touching plastic. AMEN mushrooms carbon negative packaging is a manifesto to share biodegradable packaging alternatives. As a young brand it was a hard decision but we just could not have a 50 hours burn time candle take 500 years to decompose."

AMEN's seven candles are designed around the seven charkas. The collection features Roses for the Heart, Jazmin for the Third Eye, and my personal favorite, Eucalyptus for the throat, among others. All AMEN candles are paraffin-free and handmade in Grasse, France. You can see the installation, aptly called #MushroomConversations, for yourself on the 7th floor of Bergdorf Goodman, or shop the collection online. And for anyone making the trip to the department store, one quick tip: There is an excellent mirror for selfies positioned right by the installation.