"what inspires you?" - andrée

mission muse: "what inspires you?"

by guest muse andrée

Simple Design and Good Packaging

I can’t draw to save my life, but I’ve always had a love for packaging and design.  I admire how designers create everyday objects, turning them into works of art and pleasing to the eye (such as the Philippe Starck juicer).

You don’t need to look too far to find great design and simple packaging, just turn your eyes towards things found in nature, where you will also stumble across numerous examples of the Golden Ratio.

A designer I believe finds inspiration in nature.  If this is true, then I must have something in common with them?  I am never blasé about finding beauty in the everyday, in fact I’m delighted and fascinated when I discover an interesting object in nature.  Looking closely to see how something is made so that it will survive and grow, often its’ design and “packaging” becomes logical.  It makes sense and works for its intended purpose.

Take for example this chestnut pod I found in the woods the other day, see how cleverly the nuts all fit together smoothly and snugly, the spiky pod keeps clever birds and rodents at bay while the nuts grow.  During autumn when they fall from the tree and are freed from the pod, the nuts are indeed vulnerable to the aforementioned predators (you can add humans to that group too), but they also become the key elements for new trees to grow.

Or take the egg as another eggsample example: its pleasing shape has been copied many times over for all sorts of uses in our daily lives.  But in nature the oval shape makes it easier for female birds to lay and sit on them.  An eggs’ spheric shape also makes it roll around on itself, instead of away.

Do you find inspiration in nature? If not, please give it a chance and take a closer look.  See it from a different perspective: look up, down and behind you.  Get lower and try to imagine thru the eyes of an animal; if courageous enough, climb onto a branch!  What other examples of natures’ simple design and packaging can you discover?

Andrée of On Linden Way

"what inspires you?" is the the second mission of mission: MUSE series.
After you submit a "where i live" post, you may submit an entry to mortalmuses {at} yahoo.com.