Biophilic Design Wraps Its Tendrils Around Furniture

Irwin Weiner ASID - Our recent Design2Share blog post on biophillic design caught the attention of a furniture maker and designer, Austin Heitzman, who's been influenced greatly by Eastern culture, most notably by the art of Suiseki. I'm going to use his words for the rest of the post - and thanks for reaching out to D2S, Austin, and sharing your work with us and our readers.

It seems that the Japanese, and the Chinese before them, have long been aware of the principles of biophilic design - the importance that nature plays in the health and well-being of human beings - and addressed this problem centuries ago by bringing natural debris into their home.

Suiseki is the art of displaying found rocks in such a manner that they're evocative of some greater natural occurrence, be it mountains, caves, animals, and so on. These small bits of debris focus the mind outside the home in a transcendental manner that would later become the hallmark of the Abstract Expressionist painters, except they would utilize scale to their advantage; suiseki is kept manageable.

I've tried to incorporate these principles of suiseki into my own design, creating furniture pieces that form

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Don't Design Boxes Cutting People Off From Nature

Tony Cenicola / The New York Times

Irwin Weiner ASID - Look at the beautifully designed apartment in the photo above. They live in the country, right? Well, not really. They're on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and the principles of biophilic design are hot at work here (click on this link for a scholarly explanation, but click on the photo above for a less academic take on the subject). This school of design tells us (here I paraphrase) that when humans are cut off from nature, we start to feel sensory deprivation. How many of you stuck indoors during the recent Hurricane Irene blow felt extreme "cabin fever" and couldn't wait to get outdoors. That is exactly what we're talking about with biophilic design. Watch this video to learn more about how incorporating nature into residential and commercial architecture is imperative to bringing us back to a more natural, humane, enjoyable living and work experience. The goal is to create spaces where we want to stay, work, play, and live - and it will be healthier for everyone. Even though I can't keep a single houseplant alive for more than a week, I second that motion.

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George Nakashima

The beauty of nature always inspires the work of the late furniture designer George Nakashima. It was a major milestone for furniture design to allow a tree and the wood itself to instruct the design of the finished furniture piece based on its grain, shape, and defects. Embracing this beauty created a furniture-making dynasty that last today and is evidenced by the high auction prices for his work. Visit the George Nakashima website for more information on his firm's ongoing work.