ZQ Zygote Quarterly
Article:
Authors:
Spring 2012
The Interviews
Julian Vincent, Jay Baldwin, Maria Mingallon, & Jane Fulton Suri
Interview with Jane Fulton Suri Partner & Executive Director at IDEO
Which work/image have you seen recently that really excited you?
What are your impressions of the current state of biomimicry/bio-inspired design?
Movies by 81 year-old master of the documentary genre, Frederick Wiseman. Actually what was really inspiring was the opportunity to hear him talk about his craft and process which he characterizes as creating “a dramatic narrative from basically found events.” I think of this as close to design: found matter and models as the raw material for things we create, and that subsequently themselves create new meaning.
It’s a way to widen the lens through which designers look at the world for inspiration and guidance. It’s evolving from an emphasis on materials and mechanisms to also provide good models and metaphors for some of the challenges we face. What areas should we be focusing on to advance the field of biomimicry? How design happens, how designers think, how designers learn.
What is your favorite biomimetic work of all time? It’s not here yet—I think it’s still gestating. What is the last book you enjoyed?
By what criteria should we judge the work? Elegance, resonance, making sense.
Thomas Hanna’s Somatics: Reawakening The Mind’s Control Of Movement, Flexibility, And Health.
What are you working on right now?
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Capturing what we have learned in one of IDEO’s studios about a 3 month experiment in integrating a biologist with our design teams—and building some tools to try to sustain some of those perspectives.
Enjoying being here, not thinking about perfect happiness!
How did you get started in biomimicry/bio-inspired design? Thinking about people as part of natural systems, not just human culture.
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If not a scientist/designer/educator, who/what would you be? A cat: enjoying being here, not thinking about perfect happiness!