Happy New Year!
Imagine 2024 buzzing with ideas for exciting designs, inventions, and ways to solve problems. Using nature as inspiration for projects in your classroom can engage children and spark curiosity and creativity!
Let’s start with a favourite topic – patterns in nature. Looking for patterns may be fun, but can they also be useful? A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about using the male ornate boxfish to gain insight into cancer research. Today, we will look at the design studio Nervous System.
Four nature-inspired designs in this post:
- A wood pendant lamp shaped like leaf cell patterns
- Jewellery inspired by deep-sea glass sponges
- A jewellery collection based on leaf vein growth
- A spiral puzzle inspired by a nautilus shell
Nervous System works at the intersection of science, art, and technology. Inspired by natural phenomena, they write computer programs based on patterns and processes found in nature. The studio uses the programs to create art, jewellery, and housewares. You can even co-create products at their studio as a customer!
Below are a couple of videos and explanations of how patterns have inspired the designs.
I love this wood pendant lamp, which casts dramatic shadows. It comes in 18 flat pieces that you snap together. The shape of the pieces is inspired by puzzle cells in leaves.
Porifera is a jewellery collection inspired by glass sponges. Glass sponges live in the deep sea and have an intricate glass-like skeletal structure.
Xylem is a jewellery collection based on vein formation in leaves. I found it fascinating to watch how the pattern is formed.
The Ammonite Puzzle is inspired by the whorled shell of a Nautilus. This marine mollusc is related to octopuses and squids and has challenged the designers to imagine a challenging spiral puzzle where the edge coils into the centre. Usually, you assemble a puzzle from the edge and work inwards.
Making your own puzzle is exciting! Your children will love making a puzzle inspired by patterns found in nature.
Try this: “Draw a spiral on paper, divide it into curved puzzle pieces working from the centre outward, then challenge a sibling or friend to reassemble it starting from the middle — the opposite of how most puzzles work.”
Have fun studying and creating!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is biomimicry?
Biomimicry is the practice of looking to nature for solutions, then applying what we learn to design and problem-solving. Instead of inventing from scratch, it means studying how plants, animals, and ecosystems have already solved a challenge — like staying cool, collecting water, or absorbing carbon — and adapting that strategy for human use.
How does biomimicry help address climate change?
Nature has been adapting to extreme conditions for billions of years, so many organisms already hold working solutions to problems we now face at a larger scale — cooling buildings without electricity (termite mounds), collecting water in drought (the Namib beetle), protecting coastlines from storms (mangrove roots), and capturing carbon (corals, forests, kelp). Biomimicry means studying those solutions and applying the same principles to human design.
How can children get involved in biomimicry?
Children don’t need special training to think like a biomimicrist — just curiosity and a habit of asking “how does nature solve this?” Simple ways to start include a backyard scavenger hunt for nature’s patterns, a “design-an-animal” challenge for a changing climate, or building a small model (like a passive-cooling structure or a water collector) inspired by something they’ve observed outdoors.
Is biomimicry only for scientists and engineers?
No — biomimicry is as much a mindset as a profession. Anyone can practice it by observing nature closely and asking design questions. Professional biomimicry practitioners apply it in architecture, materials science, and engineering, but the same core skill — careful observation followed by “what if we built it that way?” — is exactly what this post’s classroom and family activities are designed to build in children.
Åsa Jomård
In 2015, Åsa completed a course in Biomimicry: A Sustainable Design Methodology at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. With over 10 years of experience exploring nature for inspiration and as a former member of Ben, Biomimicry Education Network, she brings both academic background and creative teaching experience to her work. Her materials seamlessly integrate stories, nature observations, and design challenges, making them perfect for inquiry-led learning in early primary contexts.
AI was used as a Thinking Partner.