Biomimicry and cradle to cradle in product design

An analysis of current design practice

Journal article (2015)

Authors

E. Tempelman Materials and Manufacturing -

I.C. de Pauw OLD Reliability and Durability , Education and Student Affairs , Circular Product Design -

B. van der Grinten Education and Student Affairs , OLD Reliability and Durability

E.J.T. Mul OLD Reliability and Durability

K. Grevers External organisation

Research Group

Materials and Manufacturing () (TU Delft)

Circular economy Design methodology Product design Biomimicry Design research Nature-inspired design Cradle to cradle

To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:16994c42-cd53-4f85-8d5b-367267cd00af

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Published Date

2015

Language

English

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Faculty

Industrial Design Engineering

Department

Sustainable Design Engineering

Research Group

Materials and Manufacturing

Abstract

In the field of sustainable product design, the use of nature-inspired
design (NID) strategies such as biomimicry and cradle to cradle has become
more widespread, resulting in a variety of nature-inspired products. Research so
far has studied NID on the basis of individual, key design cases and student
projects. This paper assesses the state of NID at nine companies that have
applied either biomimicry or cradle to cradle in product design. NID comes to
the forefront as a promising but challenging new design paradigm. Analysis of
best practice reveals that companies that applied a top-down approach, invested
in training and/or external NID-experts, set positive and ambitious design
targets, and included value chain partners early on in their projects were
generally successful in removing barriers towards project success.