S4 E5 Exploring Design at the Intersection of Technology, Science, Nature and Society with Natsai Audrey Chieza
In this episode, I chat with Natsai Audrey Chieza. Natsai is a designer working at the intersection of technology science and nature and society. She is the founder of Faber Futures an R & D agency that is creating new spaces and strategies that relate to climate change and biodiversity loss, and the social structures that underpin our human survival. In our conversation, Natsai explains bio-design talking us through this exciting emerging technology and the implications it has on devising and creating better sustainable design solutions for our world.
Bio-design is an emerging field of design that is encouraging designers to explore the impact the products we create have on our environment. Bio-design is a term coined to describe designers working across different mediums to try and understand how biological systems were (in the past), and could be a part of how we think about designing the world around us. It is this that drew the Natsai’s interest. An architect turned designer Natsai has reached out to scientists and institutions around the world to help her understand the role of nature in design and how to harness it for good. Through her company, Faber Futures Natsai’s work has seen her collaborate with a range of forward-thing industry-leading organisations to come up with solutions that could potentially become widely practised in the future.
We want to create a critical space for dialogue so that people can be a part of this potential. They can be a part of formulating this new technological paradigm. – Natsai Audrey Chieza, Faber Futures
We talk about:
- The meaning of bio-design and why it matters
- Looking at alternatives to harmful materials and substances such as plastic and petroleum
- Finding solutions to problematic processes on an environmental and social level
- Cultivating and designing with living organisms
- What is it like to work with biology in a creative context where you start and what do you do
- Working with nature not against it
- The correlation between design and science how the two meet
- How she got into bio-design
- The real-world applications of bio-design and the other materials that can be created and applied
the problems of fashion being a heavily polluting industry - Responsible production in industry
- Why Natsai chose to start her company Faber Futures
How having her own practice enables her to explore her ideas and work with the right teams and clients
Links and resources mentioned in this episode:
MA Central St Martins
University College London
Adidas x Stella McCartney
Bolt Threads developed Mylo in partnership with Ecovative
TEDTalk Fashion Has A Pollution Problem – Can Biology Fix It?
CooperHewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
The Design Museum
Gingko BioWorks
Central St Martins MA Biodesign
Bio-Integrated Design (Bio-ID) Bartlett School of Architecture
BioDesign Challenge
Global Community Bio Summit MIT
Where you can go to find out more about Natsai and Faber Futures:
You can listen to the podcast on iTunes (iOS) and Stitcher (Android)
And before you go I have a favour to ask, if you could take a few minutes to do the three R’s that is: rate it, review it, and recommend it to anyone you feel would benefit. It will really make a difference and I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks again.
Tapiwa
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