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Exhibition

Channeling Nature by Design

April 22–July 16, 2017

Our ever-changing relationship to nature as seen through the eyes of great designers

From the botanical wallpaper of William Morris to the streamlined cutlery of Zaha Hadid, design has always found inspiration in nature. This exhibition examines how designers of handmade and industrial objects—including furniture, pottery, kitchenware, and even a 3-D printed neckpiece—have responded to the beauty and fragility of the natural world.

By bringing together nature-inspired objects from the past century and a half—and examining the forces that shaped them—this exhibition offers a fresh look at the power of design.

Collab Gallery, first floor, Perelman Building

Main Building

Museum map

Design Reform Movements

Nature and the Anxiety of Industry The Arts and Crafts movement that flourished in the late 1800s saw nature as a refuge from industrialization. Designers like William Morris and Frank Lloyd Wright aimed to bring the beauty of the natural world into everyday life. Nature was also a key theme for Art Nouveau around the turn of the century. Designers working in this more unruly and animated style drew inspiration from the sciences, especially botany, deep-sea zoology, and microscopy, as well as art theory and psychology.

Browse works

Curators

Colin Fanning, Curatorial Fellow in European Decorative Arts and Sculpture

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