Agaric?

A lot of people have asked us what 'agaric' means exactly, and why we chose to use it. Wikipedia describes agaric as a “type of fungal fruiting body characterized by...” blah blah blah (read the wiki)

Basically, a mushroom.

Why a mushroom you ask? Well, mushrooms are the 'fruiting bodies' of larger, sometimes vastly larger, mycelial networks. What's a mycelial network? In short, a network of mycelium, which are “the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae“ (read the wiki --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium)

Really, just read the wiki, it's cool, here's an excerpt:

A mycelium may be minute, forming a colony that is too small to see, or it may be extensive. "Is this the largest organism in the world? This 2,400-acre site in eastern Oregon had a contiguous growth of mycelium before logging roads cut through it. Estimated at 1,665 football fields in size and 2,200 years old, this one fungus has killed the forest above it several times over, and in so doing has built deeper soil layers that allow the growth of ever-larger stands of trees. Mushroom-forming forest fungi are unique in that their mycelial mats can achieve such massive proportions."

So there are these vast networks of interconnected life and all we really know of their existence without really close inspection is the fruiting bodies, the mushrooms or agarics. These networks are vital to ecosystems, they play an important role in the circle of nature and life, and in almost every case their presence can be proven to be beneficial in the long run.

We all know that the internet is a huge network of computers which covers a lot of the planet. The internet is also pretty much vital to our way of life these days as well, with emails and it being the information age and such... Here at Agaric Design, we see the phenomenon of the internet as an 'organism' of sorts, just like a mycelial network but on a planetary scale. The 'fruits' that this network produces are the websites out there that enhance our daily lives in some way. The ones that inform, connect, and produce positive change in the world.

With this vision in mind, we crack open our laptops everyday and do what we do, constantly learning more about this interweb thingy. We think that there's more to it than miles of wires and megawatts of pulsating electricity, it is more than just a sum of its parts. We think that the real potential of the internet still remains untapped...

We think we can help it fruit.