Visionary Neri Oxman 1

Visionary Neri Oxman

2017  Heidi Legg, The Editorial, 99

By Heidi Legg

Neri Oxman's work and research embodies so much of what we are experiencing as a society around technology, the hyper awareness of our planet and shifts in how we embrace the power of biomimetics, nature,  and genetics in our digital lives. I have long wanted to interview Oxman. This interview was like a Griffin and Sabine story, one where we have exchanged questions and ideas for over a year, and I hope only the beginning of the trilogy. Much of this interview was conducted as she prepares for Milan Design Week in April. Her work is both complicated and innovative and reminds me of past interviews with Janet Echelman and Mariana Ibanez and George Church and Diane Paulus and and Sean Dorrance-Kelly in the way they each bring humanity and reflection into our rapidly-changing, robotic, global and digital landscape with what seems like limitless possibility. As Oxman wrote to me, "“In the Biological Age, designers and builders are empowered to dream up new, dynamic design possibilities, where products and structures can grow, heal and adapt. But striding Nature’s way is far from natural. It requires a change in the way we see “Mother Nature,” from a boundless nourishing entity to one that begs nourishment by design. As we master ‘unnatural’ processes at a speed and sophistication that dwarfs evolution, Material Ecology propels us into the age where we mother Nature by design." As our 99th interview, I was delighted to finally be able to capture Neri Oxman's ideas and research for all to consider.

Read the full interview here

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