Biomimicry

Designing Inspired by Nature

For example: learning how a leaf captures sunlight in order to design a better solar cell.

• Biomimicry: designing products, processes, and systems inspired by nature. Designers first learn from living things, then imitate their shapes, how they are made, and how they fit into ecosystems, so our designs become more sustainable.
• The word: Greek bios (life) + mimesis (imitation).
• Conscious emulation: it is intentional. Designers ask “What would nature do here?” before designing instead of noticing a resemblance afterward.
• Borrow the idea, not the organism: harvesting nature (bio-utilization) or putting organisms to work (bio-assisted) is not biomimicry.

3.8 Billion Years of Tested Solutions

• Already solved: nature has worked out many problems we still struggle with, such as energy, food, climate control, clean chemistry, and transportation. Biomimicry uses nature’s tested solutions to solve human problems.
• Ruthless quality control: about 99.9% of species that ever lived are gone; the ones still here show what actually works on Earth.
• Nature’s factories: organisms build with local materials, at body temperature, in water, and other organisms gather and reuse what is left behind.
• A new relationship: nature is something to learn from, not just a supply of goods. It becomes our model, measure, and mentor.

Form, Process, and Ecosystem

One owl feather, three ways to learn from it.

• Form: mimic a shape or structure, like the frayed edges of an owl’s feather that let it fly silently.
• Process: mimic how it’s made. The feather assembles itself at body temperature with no toxic chemicals (the goal of green chemistry).
• Ecosystem: mimic how it fits in. The feather belongs to an owl, in a forest, in a living biosphere.
• Go deep: an owl-inspired fabric made with green chemistry, but sewn in a sweatshop and shipped on polluting trucks, misses the point.