Design by Nature - in collaboration with Biobased Creations

An exhibition about inventive artists embracing the potential and beauty of nature to shape a new, sustainable world.

How can we save the world from the climate crisis? Is there beauty in sustainability? Aware that nature will at any rate outlive humanity, 33 artists have embraced it as their source of inspiration as they set about designing a sustainable world. Design by Nature – an exhibition about building and furnishing houses using bio-based materials – showcases the inventiveness and beauty of applied art, with a basis in nature, all in a familiar domestic setting.

Design by Nature has been curated by Biobased Creations, founded by Lucas De Man and Pascal Leboucq, who were previously responsible for The Growing Pavilion (Dutch Design Week, 2019). This new Future Factory exhibition will highlight the beauty and the potential of a new, circular, bio-based economy.

_{Studio Marlène Huissoud, COCOON #1, 2017, silkworm cocoons, honey bee bio-resin, photo: © Marlene Huissoud, courtesy of the artist}

_{Martijn Straatman, Manureality, 2019, horse manure, photo: © Femke Rijerman, courtesy of the artist}

Nature offers us attractive, innovative, practical solutions to problems like climate change, waste, the squandering of resources, drought and carbon emissions. Artists are experimenting with a wide range of materials and processes, and Design by Nature shows the results. They include a wall of popcorn, a bedroom made of plants, furniture made of insects, shoes based on bacteria, a lavatory 3D-printed from wastewater and an LP made of cow’s blood. The exhibition will illustrate how creative makers have taken over the initiative from big companies, and that it is they who will define the future. Both visitors and the companies that will build the homes of the future will be able to encounter the radical ideas of these artists at Museum de Fundatie.

_{Aniela Hoitink, MycoTEX seamless jacket, 2018, 100 % mycelium, design in collaboration with Karin Vlug, photo: © Jeroen Dietz, courtesy of the artist}

_{Sinae Kim, This is urine, 2020, enamel of minerals from urine, clay, courtesy of the artist}

_{Basse Stittgen, Blood related, LP of discarded cow's blood, courtesy of the artist}

The Exploded View, an installation demonstrating the beauty and power of bio-based circular building, is the common thread running through Design by Nature. Designed by Pascal Leboucq, The Exploded View is a house built on a 1:4 scale that showcases the potential of bio-based circular building. Using the twelve groups of materials in the house as their basis, the participating artists will show how they work with nature, demonstrating what is possible right now, and how we can move step by step towards a sustainable circular society.

_{The Exploded View, photo: © Nanno Simonis & Eric Melander}

_{The Exploded View: Jute bedroom by Samira Boon, photo: © Nanno Simonis & Eric Melander}

This is Overijssel

The sculpture This is Overijssel will also be on display at De Fundatie. Commissioned by the museum from Biobased Creations and purchased for the provincial collection, the sculpture focuses on the power of nature in the province of Overijssel, showing what can be done with its land and agricultural produce. The statue was made using materials and skills available in Overijssel, including blocks made of reeds from the Weerribben fens, local lime hemp crafts, 3D-printed mycelium and discarded paper cups. This is Overijssel is an invitation to think and build local.

With works by:

Aniela Hoitink (MycoTEX)
AR-CH-IT
AtelierLVDW
Basse Stittgen
Blast Studio
Clemence Grouin-Rigaux
Diana Scherer
Emma van der Leest
Fabrikaat
Fabrikoos
Full Grown
Hannah Segerkrantz
House of Dus
Jan Klingler
Kaffeeform
Marlène Huissoud
Martijn Straatman
Materia Madura
Nienke Hoogvliet
Rosie Broadhead
Sebastian Cox
Sinae Kim
Studio Bas Froon
Studio Klarenbeek & Dros
Studio Sarmite
Tamara Orjola
Jonas Edvard
Tomas Libertiny
Valdís Steinarsdottír

Dit is Overijssel

Joris van Tubergen, in samenwerking met House of DUS, Thijs Rodenburg (Biopolymers) en Ruud Rouleaux (Colorfabb)
EcoBouwSalland
HuisVeendam  
Bioblocks
Jory Swart
Blast Studio

The Exploded View Materials & Methods

Aquaminerals
Basilisk/TU Delft
Basse Stittgen
BC Architects
Bioblocks
BlueBlocks
Carolyn Raff Studio
Diana Penciu
Ecoboards
ECOplex
ECOR
EverUse
Fiberplast
Forbo
FruitLeather Rotterdam
Hempflax Building Solutions GmbH
Huis Veendam
Isohemp
Jansen by ODS 
J. Swart Design
Kathryn Larsen
Kvadrat
Laura Luchtman
Martens keramiek b.v.
Metisse
Mogu Srl
Nils Ahrenberg, Sebastian Guzman Olmos New Lignum
NPSP B.V.
OMLAB
Puurkurk
Rik Makes
Studio Klarenbeek & Dros
Studio Samira Boon icw NPSP DoFactory & Wolck
Studio Samira Boon icw HybridFormsLab / VU Amsterdam 
Ten Cate outdoor Fabrics / Blue Loop
The New Makers
Waterweg
Xyhlo Biofinis

 About Biobased Creations 

Biobased Creations use storytelling and visualisation to help create a new circular value system. Their artistic installations highlight the beauty and power of bio-based materials and storytelling, helping to accelerate the vital shift to a sustainable circular society. During Dutch Design Week 2019 they presented The Growing Pavilion, which is completely bio-based, 95% circular and carbon-negative to the tune of ten tonnes. The project received a ‘highly commended’ designation from the jury of the prestigious Dezeen Awards. As a result of this, they were appointed curators of the Embassy for Circular and Bio-based Construction, part ofDutch Design Week. It was in this capacity that, in 2020, they created The Exploded View, a 1:4 prototype of a house built from state-of-the-art bio-based materials, using circular methods. The next step will come this year, when they plan to build a house on a 1:1 scale. With their unique combination of storytelling, visualisation and real data, Biobased Creations have won the admiration of artists, designers and the construction industry.

The Exploded View was realized with the support of BPD, Buro Kade, Dutch Design Foundation, Jansen by ODS, Province of Noord Brabant, Moudamo Aquaminerals, Blue City, CLICKNL, Design United, Greenport West-Holland, De Wit ≠ Weismann, Eco+Bouw , ECOplex, Energy and Raw Materials Factory, Forbo Flooring, Research Group BioBased Building CoEBBE (Avans Hogeschool & HZ University of Applied Science), LENTE housing corporations, Martens Keramiek, Primum, Agrodome Foundation, Ten Cate Outdoorfabrics.

Design by Nature is part of De Fundatie’s Future Factory, a laboratory where multidisciplinary makers seek out the pulse of today’s world and explore the issues that will shape the future. Their findings are presented in displays both inside and outside the museum.  

_{Photo Header: Full Grown, The Storm Chair, 2012 - 2018, Willow Salix viminalis, courtesy of the artist}

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