When most people think about good design, they might think of an Eames lounge chair, an iPhone or Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture. Harmonizing functional perfection with a clean and timeless form, good design is often celebrated for its endurance and ability to remain relevant and adored for decades or even centuries. Not only have these iconic examples of good design stood the test of time, they also have been copied, mimicked and used to inspire designers across industries for years past, and will for years to come.

When most people think about good design, they do not think about the speed of a sailfish, the strategy of serotinous pine cones or the resilience of a Joshua tree in the desert. They think about the products and places that people have built, not the forms and functions that have evolved in nature and endured for hundreds of millions of years. Arguably, the best design of all time.

So why not learn from efficient, interconnected and balanced ecosystems to build our industrial systems?

That’s the question behind the theory of biomimicry and the practice of biomimetic design, recognizing that a perfectly designed, calibrated and fully circular system already exists in nature. Energy and materials elegantly flow through ecosystems, efficiently cycling back into new forms without waste or stagnation.

When most people think about good design, they might think of an Eames lounge chair, an iPhone or Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture. Harmonizing functional perfection with a clean and timeless form, good design is often celebrated for its endurance and ability to remain relevant and adored for decades or even centuries. Not only have these iconic examples of good design stood the test of time, they also have been copied, mimicked and used to inspire designers across industries for years past, and will for years to come.

When most people think about good design, they do not think about the speed of a sailfish, the strategy of serotinous pine cones or the resilience of a Joshua tree in the desert. They think about the products and places that people have built, not the forms and functions that have evolved in nature and endured for hundreds of millions of years. Arguably, the best design of all time.

So why not learn from efficient, interconnected and balanced ecosystems to build our industrial systems?

That’s the question behind the theory of biomimicry and the practice of biomimetic design, recognizing that a perfectly designed, calibrated and fully circular system already exists in nature. Energy and materials elegantly flow through ecosystems, efficiently cycling back into new forms without waste or stagnation.

Here are five finalists using biomimetic design to tackle thorny human problems:

  1. Biohm: Manufacturing building materials from mycelium
  2. New Iridium: Mimicking photosynthesis to catalyze chemical reactions
  3. Impossible Materials: Designing a common colorant from a beetle's exoskeleton
  4. Infinite Cooling: Recapturing water in manufacturing facilities
  5. Spintex Engineering: Spinning silk like a spider

Read the full article about nature for design by Lauren Phipps at GreenBiz.