Viewpoint Colour #9
VIEWPOINT COLOUR 09
THE SPIRIT OF NATURE
We know it’s not the first time we’ve urged you to consider the influence of nature on design. But in the Spirit of Nature edition of Viewpoint Colour, this message is front and centre, as it is now even more timely – and more urgent.
The effects of our long-term betrayal of nature, as we continue to waste resources, pollute the environment, compromise biodiversity, and destroy habitats, were thrown into sharp relief by the Covid-19 pandemic. The virus has been identified as zoonotic – transmitted from animals on whose habitats we have encroached. No one can have escaped awareness of this particular crisis, the most evident and deadly of many caused by our lack of respect for the world around us. It is more than time, almost too late, for us to re-establish our respect for nature, and a rebalanced relationship with the natural world.
Design urgently needs to become a catalyst for lasting, sustainable social and environmental change for good. We need to focus not solely on humankind, but on a biocentric perspective. We need to think less about the here and now, and more about the future: the decades, centuries and generations to come.
Our Spirit of Nature edition offers positive inspiration. We profile a variety of designers who are already drawing on the infinite patterns, diversity, and, of course, colours of nature. And we consider the contributions that both science and the ancient wisdom of Indigenous peoples can make, as we shift towards regeneration and long-term thinking, rather than ephemeral, short-term gains.
THE SPIRIT OF NATURE: CONTENTS
Spirit of Nature: The Context
As we radically reconsider our place and our role on Earth, widely practised human-centred design methodologies must now give way to planet-centred design. We need to shift from an anthropocentric design perspective to a biocentric one.
Colour Forecast SS22
Consolidating the core ideas of this issue’s theme – Nature’s Wisdom, Variation, Indigenous Wisdom, Regeneration and Long-Term Thinking – this forecast embraces a re-examination of how we use colour in design.
Constructed Landscapes
Photographer Alexandra Von Fuerst sets out to re-evaluate the connection between humans and the environment in her ongoing project Landscape, Like Photography, is a Modern Ideal.
All Creatures Great and Small
A renewed sense that humans are caretakers of the planet requires us to look at all inhabitants of the natural world through a deeply empathetic and curious lens. We are moving away from speciesism and starting to reject the idea that humans are superior to other species.
Ephemeral Colour
Rooted in nature, yet a forerunner of modern science, alchemy bears the aura of centuries of spirituality and magic. Alchemy turns the ordinary into the extraordinary – the very definition of Anne Eder’s work, Botanical Gothic: Poisons, Ghosts, and Auras, an experimental series of dramatic lumen prints.
Networked Nature
Marshmallow Laser Feast is one of the world’s leading immersive art collectives. Underpinned by science and advanced virtual reality (VR) technology, the studio’s extraordinary experiences invite us to become one with nature, navigating spaces that illuminate the hidden natural forces that surround us.
Faded Glory
Having made the decision not to use any chemicals in the processing of his fabrics, Jiyong Kim started his collection a year early, allowing him to utilise the very slow process of natural fading at the hands of his unlikely collaborators – the sun, the wind, the rain – and, of course, his mother, who oversaw the process in her back garden.
Pantone Colour of the Year
A look at the thinking and meaning behind the choice of Illuminating (yellow) 13-0647 and Ultimate Gray 17-5104 as Panton’e twin choices for Colour of the Year 2021
Expanding Horizons: A Long-Term Design Manifesto
Drawing on the work of Ella Saltmarshe and Beatrice Pembroke, co-founders of the multidisciplinary Long Time Project, this Long-Term Design Manifesto shines the light on five pathways to inspire and foster long-term thinking within creative culture.