Designers and creative people use nature is an infinite source of ideas for their inventions and products. Everyday, we interact with products whose shape or principle function is inspired by the world around us, from swim suits inspired by fish to laptops closing like clams. In the interview below, the Institute of Biomimicry answers our questions, shedding the light on how following nature’s example can lead to innovation and success.
Q: Your mission is to train, equip, and connect engineers, educators, architects, designers, business leaders, and other innovators to sustainably emulate nature’s 3.8 billion years of brilliant designs and strategies. How do you do this?
Biomimicry 3.8 approaches its mission in two ways – through consulting and also by offering professional training opportunities in biomimicry. As a consulting firm, Biomimicry 3.8 uses biological intelligence to help clients design new products and processes. We work with designers of all types to bring them the genius of nature and help them understand how to integrate these ideas into their designs. Biomimicry 3.8 also has professional training opportunities for individuals wanting a deeper experience practicing biomimicry.
Q: How can a better understanding of biology help improve designs and products that are being developed and prototyped?
The other species on the planet are dealing with the same challenges that humans are facing. Biomimicry focuses on the function of what a design is trying to achieve and then explores how other creatures accomplish the same functions. Scientists comparing human patent databases with nature’s solutions found there is only a 12% overlap in common solutions, meaning there is very little overlap in how humans do things versus the way other species do things. On average, nature fulfils a particular function through a much more diverse solution set than humans use, indicating that there are a lot of untapped design solutions in the natural world.
Q: Your company has helped more than 250 clients and partners redesign carpets, furniture, manufacturing processes, airplanes, and even entire cities, all in nature’s sustainable image. What does this process look like? Can you provide examples of some of your partnerships?
With our feet firmly planted in both the design and biology realms, Biomimicry 3.8 is able to translate a client’s needs into language that accesses biological information and then we translate nature’s time-tested strategies back into relevant design ideas. In concert with our strategic partners, Biomimicry 3.8 develops those ideas into viable solutions. Most recently, we have worked with Levi’s in partnership with the Center for Green Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley to solve the challenge of toxic chemicals used to make cotton fabric wrinkle free and water resistant. Graduate students are working in the lab to bring biomimetic design ideas on this topic into practice.
Q: Does your organisation have a definition for design?
Biomimicry 3.8 has a broad definition of design and uses the saying “We are all designers.” We use the term “designer” to refer to anyone responsible for conceiving of, creating, and implementing ideas that affect human cultural, technological, social, scientific, or financial systems at any scale.
Q: Can you explain the rise in interest in biomimicry and what that means for the future of design?
As human populations urbanise, there is an increasing movement to facilitate the connection and appreciation humans intrinsically have for the natural world. Together with the fact that science continues to develop new means of understanding how nature works from the micro to macro levels, biomimics are developing greater dexterity in mimicking the principles behind nature’s strategies. Take 3D-printing for example, this emerging technology not only opens the door to local manufacturing, reducing long-distance transport of goods, it could also allow the production of high-performing, compostable materials for everything from textiles and packaging to medical devices and electronics. Stay tuned!
