Douglas Paige
Associate Professor of Industrial Design
The Cleveland Institute of Art
Paige has been incorporating nature’s lessons into sustainable design and design research methods. He has built collaboration with the University of Akron’s Integrated Biosciences to bring together biology and design in joint campus projects, along with working with Biomimicry 3.8, to teach the B-Specialist program. Paige also works as a consultant for technical, medical and outdoor sporting goods development. His current projects include using biomimicry to help solve problems with the health of industrial rivers, sports safety and developing biomimicry immersion workshops, using nature as the classroom.
Nature of Design • Design of Nature
The nature of design as a problem-solving methodology, has been continuously evolving with new research methods and technologies to help us understand and solve problems, as well as communicate ideas more effectively. Currently, the greatest impact on design methodology is turning to nature’s research and development lab, which has been testing ideas for 3.8 billion years.
With the emerging field of biomimicry, the nature of design is truly about the design of nature. Designers’ antennae are constantly scanning for inspiration and references to see if a solution in one area can be adapted to another. We are now using this process to take a closer look at how the natural world has been solving many of the problems we are challenged with today. Biomimicry offers a new lens through which to view a problem. Finding a new perspective, uncovering patterns, understanding function and context can help us discover entire new pathways to explore that previously were hidden in plain sight.
