What does nature tell us and how can artists and designers translate and reinforce this message in their work?

What can the mimicking of nature, biomimicry, mean for your discipline?

During this workshop, we would like to play with the structures of nature and discover how biomimicry can be applied and communicated in different ways.

The need for something tangible and permanent is part of humankind: we build so it can be assembled to last. However, this is the opposite of how nature ‘builds’: materials are not assembled but grown and temporality is part of the process. Would employing nature’s way of creation help us evolve in our own way of creating? How can technology, design, and nature co-exist?

Biomimicry is looking at how nature has created and learning from it. The built environment is in an urgent circumstance where adopting biomimicry is needed in order to survive. From structures to materials, we have to look at nature and model ourselves after its most effective systems. The workshop offers insight into how we can create with nature in mind in the context of different disciplines (Ex. architecture, industrial design, material science, sculpture, etc)

The 2-hour session will start with an introduction to the multiple layers of biomimicry, offering examples of how the concept can be adopted as a process. In the second half, there will be a collective exercise of prototyping based on biomimicry (no prior knowledge needed - just paper, pen, and scissors).

Register with your RCA email address

All students welcome!

Maria Koch is an industrial designer, researcher, and -- as recently designated by her colleagues --  ‘an agitator’. With her work she wants to encourage people to take a critical look at what they may take for granted. Her interests vary from textiles to music to different thoughts on the freedom of movement. Most of her recent work is a reflection of how Maria investigates how bringing out the best in herself can bring out the best in other people.

Baha, E., Koch, M., Sturkenboom, N., Price, R., & Snelders, D. (2020). Why am I Studying Design? DRS2020: Synergy, 1–18.

Bianca Maria Nitu is a graphic communication designer and researcher.
Her research tackles the relationship between language and typography, as well as the dialogue between author and audience. Latest work includes the project Cross-Sensory Typography: The Future of Type through the Computational Lens, which has received the 'Ones to Watch' award at the D&AD Festival 2020.

bianca-graphic-design.com