Biomimicry, living materials, and lab-grown fabrics: the forefront of responsible design, where nature’s imitation is no longer enough
In a post-industrial world, design is no longer modelled after machines; instead, it draws inspiration from nature—not as it is, but as it could be. Enhanced. Evolved. Reinvented through technology.
The new aesthetic of sustainable design is not nostalgic. It doesn’t aim to replicate the natural but to merge it with the artificial. A new sensibility has emerged: supernature, where algae, bacteria, insects, and cultivated tissues become the foundation for objects, spaces, and garments that appear alive or even intelligent.
This trend reflects not only an aesthetic shift but also a deeply cultural desire to move beyond the binary between the natural and the artificial, as well as between the living and the synthetic. Today, the most compelling projects exist in the in-between, envisioning a world where plants grow on 3D-printed furniture or where light pulses with your heartbeat.
Imitating Nature Is No Longer Enough
If modernism celebrated humans as the measure of all things, today, it’s the living systems that have become the new model.
In biomimetic design, the structure of a beehive can inspire the logistics of a building, while fish scales can influence the texture of technical fabrics. But that’s just the beginning. Some studios are pushing the boundaries even further with materials that are self-healing, light-sensitive, and biodegradable —these are not just things that seem alive but things that are truly alive.
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Take Biobased Creations, for example, which presented interiors made from potato peels, mycelium, and fermented food waste at Dutch Design Week 2024. This is a tangible example of how waste can become a resource, beauty, and a design language. You can see more on Instagram @biobased.creations and visit their official website at biobasedcreations.com.
Another innovative company is ScobyTec, which grows plant-based materials from bacteria and yeast, making them as durable as traditional leather but entirely cruelty-free. The result is a biofabricated, adaptive, circular material already being tested by major fashion brands. Stay updated on Instagram @scobytec and explore their website at scobytec.com.
Design That Grows (Literally)
Today, designers do more than just shape objects; they also design how those objects grow, whether in labs or natural ecosystems.
Research into algaculture—the controlled cultivation of algae for design purposes—is driving innovation in both fashion and architecture. Algae absorb CO₂, grow quickly, and are fully biodegradable. The collective Studio Klarenbeek & Dros, for instance, produces 3D-printable bioplastics from microalgae harvested in the North Sea. Their work is not only sustainable but also poetic, vibrant, and visionary. You can follow them on Instagram: @klarenbeek_dros.
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Another rapidly growing area is cellular textile cultivation. The start-up Modern Synthesis is developing a bacteria-grown textile that forms in controlled patterns. The result is an innovative material that not only replaces animal leather but also evolves, responding to changes in moisture or light. It’s fashion that behaves like a living being. Learn more on Instagram: @modern_synthesis.
Beyond Green: The Futuristic Allure of the Post-Natural
This new vision is not just ecological; it’s also futuristic, hybrid, and, at times, even alien.
Supernature design draws on aesthetics that go beyond the natural world. It envisions tentacled habitats, symbiotic surfaces, and lamps that appear to breathe. Some pieces seem to come from a bioluminescent forest, others from an organic sci-fi film. It’s an aesthetic that doesn’t seek comfort but rather focuses on evolution.
The goal has shifted from returning to a primitive natural state to creating new aesthetic species—new ecosystems of form and function.
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Such ideas will take centre stage at the Venice Biennale Architettura 2025, curated by Carlo Ratti, which will open to the public on May 10 and run through November 23, with previews on May 8 and 9. Designers, bio-artists, and researchers will gather to explore what it means to design with life, not just for life. Follow updates at @labiennale.
The Future is Alive – and It’s Being Designed
In a time of climate crisis and product saturation, the design that matters is no longer the one that produces more but the one that grows better.
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Supernature design isn’t a trend; it’s a paradigm shift. It introduces a new way of understanding materials, longevity, and beauty, where every object is not seen not merely as a thing but as an organism. Each object has a life cycle, carries responsibility, and fosters a relationship with the person who uses it.
Perhaps the true future of design lies not in imitating nature but in allying with it.