Lesson 1: Names are Hard
After spending literally a whole day writing down every permutation of the words Biology, Mimic, and Home (even delving into Greek and Latin words) I finally settled a on a name for my biomimicry housewares brand: Niche.
I chose the name because it really touches on many ideas behind the product line. ’Niche’ comes from the french word for ‘nest’ and represents the appropriate position or home for a person or object. In science, an ecological niche is the role a species plays in it’s community. Hopefully this product line will exemplify how biology has it’s own niche in the design process. #cheese
"Despite the fact that we face the same physical challenges that all living beings face – the struggle for food, water, space, and shelter – we are trying to meet those challenges through human cleverness alone. The lessons inherent in the natural world remain scientific curiosities, divorced from the business of our lives."
— Janine Benyus
Brainstorming Design Ideas:
First week of school was a blur and now it’s time to get to the dirty work. I spent a lot of time racking my brain over which Biomimicry strategies I wanted to focus on and ended up with a gigantic list, then realized I had no concrete design problem yet. Smooth move.
Since I want to present Biomimicry in an accessible way, I’m focusing on the housewares arena and where biology can fit into the design process there. Basically everyone is familiar with housewares since they interact with them everyday, so I think it’s a great launch pad for my project to start.
Velcro = Biomimicry
One lovely day this summer I went on a picnic in the california hills on Skyline Blvd. It was a perfectly romantic excursion with my beau - fruit, blankets, sunset and all. Except for the fact that i had 200 burrs stuck on my butt.
The inventor of Velcro had the same experience as I did (except with his dog, and less romantic). Turns out these seemingly innocuous plants have tiny hooks on the ends of each burr in order to hitch a ride on passing creatures, or in my case, to ruin my favorite pair of tights. Anyway, you can see where the inspiration came from.
Biomimicry Reading List: AKA How many times can you use the word “Nature” in a title?
Through the ever-helpful resources of the Biomimicry Institute, I’ve put together a list of books that I want to skim through before the semester starts. I’ve already read through Janine Benyus’ Biomimicry (aka The Bible) but I definitely want more literature on specific case studies. Of course, all the relevant books I could find were about architecture or engineering, but mark my words there will one day be one with industrial design!
"The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them."
— William Lawrence Bragg
