Biomimicry and Structural Design

I feel extremely fortunate to live in LA with such wonderful opportunities and thrilling experiences. I don't mean the Hollywood kind where people get discovered and become stars, but something deeper. Every day in LA there seems to be an event or activity where the community comes together to meet each other and learn about and appreciate a variety of topics like art, literature, design, music, culture, technology and the environment.

Last night was a perfect example of one such LA treasure, only a mile away from my home! I attended a fascinating lecture at an impressive furniture studio tucked in a residential neighborhood. A group of about 30 people gathered to hear Mike Leneman present 'Biomimicry and Structural Design' in a cool space made out of a container known as A.N.T. Gallery (for Art, Nature, Technology) at Ilan Dei Studio, a magnificent furniture designer's shop and showroom, off Abbot Kinney (http://www.ilandeistudio.com/home.php).

Mike is a Professor of Oceanography and for the past 35 years he has been racing, cruising and building multihulls. He is also the most winning multihull sailor on the West Coast! Mike's sincerity and enthusiasm for geology, sailing and teaching captured the audience's attention. He covered a lot of territory and there is no way I can do his instruction justice here. So I will just summarize a few points. Michel explained how the evolution in nature relates to the evolution of design and in this case, boat design. He also presented examples of the relationship between nature and boat design and how nature inspires design. Some of the correlations were the strength of hollow bamboo stalks and boat masts, the shape of fish fins and keels, and the structure of bird wings and sails. You can learn more about Mike and his boat design business at www.multimarine.com.