6. Design that looks at Models from Nature & History

NATURE IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION 

BIOMIMICRY - The practice of imitating models in nature to create better forms, processes, systems and strategies. 

Some people assume that if something is great then it has to be the work of human beings for they are the smartest, mo vst intellectual people on the planet. However humans are not the first to coddle their young, to provide shelter for their families, to fly, to hunt, to survive, nature was first. An aeroplane was designed by analysing bird's flight and the way a bird's wing was structured.

Designers look at nature for inspiration, they are a million years ahead of us due to evolution. They have mastered thier techniques and it us that ought to take examples from them. 

JANINE M.BENYUS has pioneered biomimicry and suggests that nature is our 'model, measure and mentor'. Nature is highly sustainable, it works as a cycle; creating, re-using, recycling continuously. The world is not a human dumping ground, used and abused and left depeleted of resources. We ought to look at nature to create technology to prosper the world long after we have left it. As Benyus pinpoints; real biomimicry is when you design to develop the world not to create a solar powered vehicle whose primary use is to be used to chop down trees. 

WHAT WOULD NATURE DO? If you have a problem you should consider what a creature on earth has done to solve it, because 9 times out of 10 they will have tackled a similar situation. 

EXAMPLE:

Human need: Chemical companies want a self-cleaning coat of paint.

Nature's example: Lotus plants must keep the surfaces of their leaves clean, despite living in muddy ponds and swamps. The leaves' tiny ridges and bumps keep water droplets from spreading across the surface. As a result, the water beads and slides away, carrying particles of dirt with it.

Biomimetic solution: Developers have applied this lotus effect to paint. When the paint dries, tiny bumps remain on the surface that help water droplets remove dirt.

Human need: Beautiful clothing that reduces water consumption and energy

Nature's example: Morphotex butterfly which uses the scales on their wings to refract the light in different ways in order to maintain a vivid, bright blue hue in their wings all year round.
Biomimetic solution: Donna Sgro uses Morphotex a nanotechnology based, structurally coloured fibre that mimics the microscopic structure of the Morpho butterfly's wings. Manufactured in Teijin, Japan, morphotex requires no inks, dyes or pigments thus there is no excessive water consumption or industrial waste as no energy is being used.