Publisher's Synopsis
Nature is the prime source of materials for designers - either in their raw state, such as shells used for jewellery, or enhanced in some way, like the graining patterns in timber brought out by polishing. Alan Powers shows how nature influences designers in every discipline, including architecture, civil engineering, industrial and product design, textiles and fashion, garden and landscape design, crafts and graphic art. We see how nature is used as a sourcebook of figurative or abstract decorative motifs and as a practical blueprint for a wide range of structures including boat hulls influenced by fish forms and buildings inspired by beehives.