“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” — Albert Einstein
I was looking at a photo I made at the rookery — a spoonbill, full wingspan, carrying nesting material — and something about the shape kept nagging at me. I couldn’t place it. Eventually I did. The Chrysler Crossfire. That long swept rear, the way it widens back out at the bottom.
The designer wasn’t thinking about birds. But nature already solved the problem. It always has.
The bullet train in Japan was inefficient — it created a pressure wave that made a boom every time it exited a tunnel. An engineer on the team was also a birdwatcher. He knew the kingfisher dives from air into water with almost no splash because of the shape of its bill. They redesigned the nose. The boom went away. The train got faster and used less energy.
Velcro came from a burr stuck to a dog. The Mercedes bionic concept car was modeled on a boxfish. Sharkskin inspired swimsuit fabric. Buildings are ventilated using termite mound airflow systems.
We think we’re inventing things. Usually we’re just catching up.
The spoonbill has been shaped exactly right for what it does for longer than anything we’ve built has existed. It doesn’t stop to consider the design. It just flies.
What would it look like to trust that you’ve already been shaped for what you’re supposed to do — and just go?
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