D E S I G N DNA
BEAUTY IS THE SIGNAL OF THE GOOD An interview with Janine Benyus
Consider the lionfish. Described as one of the most invasive species on the planet, this poisonous predator only consumes, offering nothing in return—laying waste to reef diversity like an ecological brush fire. The invaded territory the lionfish mercilessly occupies slowly but surely loses all natural control, including its ability to sustain life. Janine Benyus, the founder of the bio-inspired design consultancy Biomimicry 3.8, creator of the Project Positive initiative, and author of six, going on seven, books on the subject of biomimicry, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, believes that all species need to be positive contributors instead of invasive detractors— or we don’t get to stay here. Benyus’ work for giants like Boeing, Jaguar, Google, Kohler, Herman Miller and Microsoft centers on the premise that human beings should consciously emulate nature’s genius in their designs and that design has the power to fix the evolutionary knothole we are currently navigating. I recently sat down with her to talk about exactly how we’re going to do this.
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