biomimicry

Overview

“Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature labor in vain.” – Leonardo da Vinci, painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect

Finding sustainable solutions for a balanced ecosystem by empowering people to learn and apply nature-inspired design strategies is the philosophy that lies at the heart of biomimicry. This approach is absolutely critical in effecting systemic change!

Biomimicry design thinking is a process used by innovators across many fields to identify challenges and develop solutions in a creative, relevant, truly sustainable way — based on nature. The typical process consists of five stages:

– Define the intended impact of your design
– Biologize by analyzing and reframing your solutions in biological terms, so you can “ask nature” for advice
– Discover existing organisms that perform the sought-after function
– Draft abstract by restating design strategies in non-biological terms, looking for patterns
– Evaluate the design concepts for how well they meet the challenge and fit into Earth’s systems

Biomimicry moves away from an industry-informed perspective (i.e. what has been manufactured before) to a nature-informed perspective, studying and copying how nature has solved problems to take full advantage of 3.8 billion years of ‘R&D’ and natural selection. Creative problem-solving tools are invaluable in the face of the climate crisis, as we must look towards the age-old design of nature itself to learn how to adapt to and mitigate devastating impacts.

Many inventions we take for granted today are a product of biomimicry. For example, Velcro was invented by George de Mestral in the 1940s when he examined the way burrs attached to his clothing and dog’s fur with a unique hook design. We study the golden orb-weaver spider for its unbelievable ability to produce silk that is five times stronger than steel, a naturally-derived arachnoid material much tougher than the Kevlar in bulletproof vests and able to absorb five times the impact without breaking or the need for high pressures, heat or corrosive acids.

And when you set out with a mission, you need gear with a mission too. Peak Design plans, accounts and takes responsibility for a product’s entire lifecycle, from a banned substances list to low-water low-footprint dying processes, recycled textiles, metals, papers, plastics and other materials to refurbishment and lifetime guarantees. The environmental priorities are a natural outgrowth of its mission, policies and advocacy to improve the lives of employees, contractors, customers, and people the planet over.

Surrounding ourselves with nature reduces stress and increases creativity, allowing us to operate at our highest potential. The more we incorporate nature into our constructed places — even through simple green building design shifts to increase daylight or views of the outdoors — the stronger our connection is to the environment, incentivizing its protection and restoration. It becomes a co-beneficial cycle!

Janine Benyus sums it up well in her book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature: “After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival… In that time, life has learned to fly, circumnavigate the globe, live in the depths of the ocean and atop the highest peaks, craft miracle materials, light up the night, lasso the sun’s energy, and build a self-reflective brain… all without guzzling fossil fuel, polluting the planet, or mortgaging the future. What better models could there be?”