A former professor and armed forces officer has taken her latest step to remake the field she created in the name of improving nature and humanity.
Neri Oxman began a new project in September in her continued work to meld design, engineering, and biology, Artnet reported.
The 36,000-square-foot Oxman design studio and lab in New York City features a robotics shop, a workshop, an architectural studio, and a wet lab. The goal is to empower nature and humanity by unifying design engineering and biological growth.
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All products — with a focus on reinventing food, clothes, and homes — aim to make positive impacts on the environment, according to Artnet.
"This new way of design and designing aims to replenish—rather than exploit—the natural world," Oxman told the site. "In a world where human-made materials are biocompatible, designed products are indistinguishable from naturally grown produce. Using programmable decomposition, materials can rejoin the ecosystem and fuel new growth."
Take, for example, zero-waste shoes made with a 3D printer. The cornerstone is polyhydroxyalkanoate, a natural polyester produced by microorganisms that could replace plastic. The lab uses robots to print biodegradable textiles with PHAs, creating an "infinite life," Oxman said. The prototypes are made in one piece, with built-in knitted socks.
The Israeli, who at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology founded material ecology, has large-scale hopes to remake cities — and restore habitat connectivity, ecosystem stability, and resource availability — through architecture and design. Her company has partnered with the New York Botanical Garden and an Australian property group.
Before she began her higher education, Oxman served as a first lieutenant in her home country's air force.
"Our long-term hope is to make a real and meaningful impact through design," she told Artnet. "More than anything, I long for meaningful interactions between living and nonliving beings. I long for the day perfumes can interact with trees, shoes can transform into edible berries, and data centers can rewild a struggling ecosystem."
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