The Concept Of Biomimicry in Sustainable Design

As humans we have always looked for ways to solve our problems in nature. The idea is that nature already solved the challenges we are trying to solve. Using nature’s patterns and strategies to solve our problems is biomimicry.

“Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a new science that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example.

I think of it as “innovation inspired by nature. ” Biomimicry has been more popular through time because everyone is looking for more sustainable ways to do things. We have done alot of damadge to nature and created sustainability problems for generations to come. In this reaserch I want to look into biomimicry in the fashion world. Fashion can be kinetic and it can be a expression of nature and the world around us. Biometic is a source of inspiration it can teach us many things.

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New fashion designers are turning to nature to design biomimetic clothes.

The first sucsesful example would be speedo international LTD, in United Kingdom mimiced shark skin to improve their swimwear. There are many more examples such as velcrow, waterproof jackets, etc. I am facinated by the whole concept of having to analyze nature and implying it to our everyday life. Velcro was created after the inventor noticed how burrs stuck to his pants. Something so simple that occurs all the time in nature ended up creating an item that is used around the world for many different purposes.

The concept is easy to see and find in everyday life, but to actually put something you saw or imagined in the works takes a lot of time and effort. Researching and learning more about biomimicry, I never realized how many ideas were taken from nature. Now it seems as though most ideas have come from nature or other organisms.

After thoroughly researching about biomimicry, I finally have a clearer understanding of the concept and in my eyes biomimicry is natures design lesson. Biomimicry is shaping sustainable design in many fields such as Energy, architecture, medicine, agricultuere, communication and transportation. Biomimicry in fashion is the culture of transfering ideas inspired by nature. In fashion there is always a thrive to come up with the newest ideas. In textile products there has always been a focus on nature. The idea of weaving originated from the nest of weavbird. Biomimicry is still considerd a new science, the idea has been around for thousend of years however it has gained popularity relatively recently.

Works cited

1. Works Cited
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4. Fashion Revolution. (n.d.). Biomimicry and the Future of Fashion. Retrieved from https://www.fashionrevolution.org/biomimicry-and-the-future-of-fashion/
5. Geisler, S., Schmutzler, J., & Tran, D. H. (2019). Bio-inspired Materials in Fashion Design: From Conceptualisation to Realisation. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 7(1), 34-51.
6. Henshaw, V. (2018). Biomimicry in Textiles: Sustaining the Fashion Industry through Nature-Inspired Innovations. In B. Popovic, B. G. Gupta, & V. K. Thakur (Eds.), Biomimetics in Materials Science: Self-Healing, Self-Lubricating, and Self-Cleaning Materials (pp. 93-106). Springer.
7. Kolb, K. (2012). Fashion’s Newest Trend: Biomimicry. The Epoch Times. Retrieved from https://www.theepochtimes.com/fashions-newest-trend-biomimicry_1484286.html
8. Lenz, K. (2018). Biomimicry and Fashion: Nature as a Design Guide. In A. Inayatullah & M. D. Sweeney (Eds.), Fashion Futures: Transformative Hope for Fashion and Earth (pp. 91-104). Springer.
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