Early industrialization brought a paradigm shift in the way people started looking at utilitarian products. They moved from handcrafted unique products to industry-made mass-produced goods. This shift in acceptability in the general population left artisans with no jobs and impacted the global economy drastically. These products are designed with user experience and longevity in mind. This rapid growth can be linked to industrialization and mechanization in Great Britain in the 18th century.
Biophilic design meets industrial design
Industrial design (ID) is the process of designing products used in our day-to-day lives, mostly mass-produced. Industrial designers usually focus on the practicality and manufacturability of a product, although they’re typically concerned much more with the development cycle. All of this ultimately extends to the lasting price and knowledge a product or service provides for end-users. Every object used daily in your home, office, faculty, or public setting results from a styling method. And in man’s connection to nature, understanding how biophilia plays its part in industrial design can shed light on how these products can leave a lasting psychological impact.
Recent scientific evidence supporting the physiological and psychological human needs for nature are examined, in particular, focusing on the positive influence that natural settings and live organisms have on our health, work productivity, and living conditions. Environments with elements of nature are more beneficial to the individual. In the post-pandemic world, our need to be attuned to nature is growing ever more rapidly, as nature is helping reduce anxiety and depressive thoughts.
Explaining biomimicry
Bioinspiration or bio affiliation is a style that explores the advantages of nature and design within its surroundings. Biomimicry and biomorphism is an area of biophilic design that goes one step further by encouraging a symbiotic collaboration with living organisms within industrial products. However, these ideas are still in their infancy. The inspiration from nature into the design of products helps to mimic biological organisms in form, function, process, and systems from nature in mind. One primary example is the design of velcro which was inspired by the tiny hooks of bur fruits.
“Nature has continuously delivered elegant solutions to all sorts of design problems”
— Lisa King
Biomason, a startup in architecture, designed and developed commercially viable products grown by bacteria in ambient temperatures. The invention is progress in terms of design and the application of biomimicry to build various environments. Biomimicry can also create building screens as exteriors to envelope the main shell for shade, ventilation, and self-operation without electricity. This becomes a sustainable option, and the life of the building is increased as its made breathable.
Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature. In a society accustomed to dominating or improving nature, this respectful imitation is a radically new approach, a revolution. Unlike the industrial revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but what we can learn from her.
— Janine Benyus
The importance of bio-collaboration
Bio collaboration is connecting human processes with nature. As the concept of biophilia connecting human beings to nature takes shape in both architecture, interior design, and the aforementioned industrial design, this seamless collaborative relationship will only continue to grow. Scientists and researchers are trying to promote sustainable design with green architecture. Strategies are being formed to reestablish the strong bond between nature and man, which has been largely superseded with technology these days.
We as humans are capable of embracing natural systems to enhance the quality of life. These are being achieved by green trends such as organic farming, consumption of organic foods, e-vehicles, and other such environment-friendly examples. Large multinational firms are dedicating funds towards a green revolution in corporate social responsibility (CSR). This is an important aspect of economic growth.
Biophilia leads to sustainability
These two approaches to design incorporating biophilia in industrial design have taken design thinking to a whole new level. We are now approaching design in a more natural, scientific way. The concepts of discovering natural models, understanding, and synthesizing them to create design principles help with the products being made and affect production as a whole. They allow the designers to engage with the natural elements that help us relate to the outside world and provide more sustainable products.
