Design by Nature with More–so at Design Miami/ Basel

The Nature Furniture Collection is the first result of a research project by Swedish designers Front in collaboration with More-So, the internal division of the Italian design company Moroso created with the objective of enhancing research and experimentation as applied to furnishings-design. The project is called Design by Nature.

The new pieces of furniture are recreations of fragments of wilderness, using 3D-scanning, milling and weaving. The objects appear like pieces of landscapes, moss-covered rocks, mounds, snowdrifts, three-dimensional forms found in nature that suggest places for the human body to occupy.

The textiles that cover these complex forms are an integral part of the works. Images from Front’s scanning process were digitally rebuilt and woven in tapestries customised to fit the three-dimensional furniture pieces. It will be like sitting in a three di- mensional painting or tapestry of a piece of nature.
The Design by Nature project has taken years of development by Front. The design approach behind the works pays close attention to nature, and the works build on research about the physical and mental health effects, as well as the cultural and psychological significance, of natural settings, especially in Front’s native Sweden. “Many studies have proven that being close to nature has many therapeutic qualities and is good for personal and public health. The fundamental part of humans relations to their environ- ment that we are interested in experimenting with.”

Another part of Design by Nature has been a study of structures built by animals. The pottery wasp builds its nest in the form of a pot of clay, using material it takes from the surrounding earth. The Mole Cricket creates a hole in the ground that amplifies its mating song to over 100 decibels. The smallest structure, built by a single-celled amoeba, is just 0.05 mm across. These are traces of how animals source from their environments. Anna says: “Our interest has been to look at how those structures work and how they relate to their surroundings.” The Design by Nature project is an attempt to explore the creative interface between an organism and its surroundings.