Nicola Rowe is the marketing manager for Imaginature.

Every so often a game-changing idea comes around. Once we hear it and understand it, we never see the world in quite the same way again. Biomimicry is such an idea. It shows us that genius solutions to some of our greatest challenges already exist – right outside, in nature, tested over eons.

What is biomimicry?

“Bio” means life, and “mimicry” means imitate. So, biomimicry is a branch of science, a problem-solving method, a design-thinking methodology, a sustainability ethos, a movement, and a new way of viewing and valuing biodiversity. It’s not only a recognition that nature is worth preserving, but that it’s worth emulating too. It’s a creative and inspiring approach to our sustainability and resilience challenges.

Biomimicry is the practice of learning from nature’s incredible adaptations for application in our designs. Biomimicry thinking is a process of abstracting design principles from natural organisms and systems and creating innovative designs.

Workshop: Introduction to Biomimicry

Imaginature will be running a biomimicry training workshop at the Aquarium from 8 to 10 April. We want to transform the way you think about and design the future of our world, guided by the genius of nature. Reconnecting to the genius of nature is awe inspiring, understanding how nature works is fascinating, understanding the very basis of life itself is meaningful for everyone, learning how to apply this in a creative and highly impactful way is priceless.

Your mentors will be biomimicry professional Claire Janisch and biomimicry practitioner Jess Warner. One of the Two Oceans Aquarium’s Environmental Education Centre lead educators Xavier Zylstra will guide a biomimicry tour of the Aquarium together with our team.

You will work in interdisciplinary groups to identify challenges and use biomimicry thinking tools to find innovative solutions.

There will also be a special track for educators, who can work with our team to plan how to integrate biomimicry into your curriculum. Teachers will also be introduced to a brand new online educator’s resource for biomimicry.

The workshop is designed to build on each component. You can dip in lightly by attending just parts of the weekend, or join the full weekend for the whole experience.

Details

• Date: Friday 8th April – Sunday 10th April
• Cost: Full weekend - R2550 (R350 saving); Friday only - R360; Saturday only - R1 270; Sunday only -  R1 270
• Who should attend: Biomimicry is about emulating life’s genius so it really is applicable to everyone!

For more detailed information please visit http://www.imaginature.co/training-biomimicry/2016/4/8/two-oceans-aquarium-workshop 

We look forward to seeing you at the Aquarium!