The Design Museum organized a two-days online course to explore how designing with living organisms can respond to today’s ecological challenges. I took part in the program as part of the primary research of my paper. Co-organised by the Design Museum, the Design & Living Systems Lab (Central Saint Martins UAL), The Bio ID Lab (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) and the British Council.
‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.’- Buckminster Fuller
The course was structured around the following four sessions:
• Nature as partner: How can we transition to seeing nature as a partner, rather than a resource?
• Nature as system: What can we learn from plant systems?
• Nature as medium: How do you build using nature as a medium?
• Design as a host for growth: What are the new modes of cultivation for designing with life?
It was really insightful to e-attend these panel discussions and understand how contemporary this field is. Research is happening now, it is evolving and it was very interesting to listen to the different panelist talk about how they are implanting biodesign into different industries (agriculture, architecture, product design, economy consultancy, material science and design)
I was particularly interested in Jen Keane and Jane Scott, as their research is closer to fashion and the sustainable development of its production.
Jen Keane is a designer ( designer, researcher and co-founder / CEO of Modern Synthesis, a biomaterial innovation company connecting the dots between design, biology, and material science to develop radical and regenerative materials for the fashion industry). https://www.jenkeane.com/
She talked about “circular dreams” – a shift in mindset around the human impact on the planet led by fashion and how nature adapts and it’s an organism driven design. I consider very interesting the idea of design systems instead of stuff. Systems grow and evolve, they encourage generative and inclusive interactions with bio-manufacturing.