“The intricate shapes of flowers. The mesh-networks of fungi. The perfect geometry of organisms. They have been crafted, remodelled and burnished during billions of years of biological trial and error,” says van Daal. “Implementing their unique and meticulous properties in design has been difficult, but recent technology has fuelled possibilities for new development of products and systems.”
Van Daal’s graduation project, Biomimicry Soft Seating, began her career in biomimicry design four years ago. Since then, she has managed to decrease production time and energy consumption by half, optimizing the design so that all elements of the chair can fit in one production run of the 3D printer. Van Daal has also begun using recyclable materials, Oceanz EcoPowder, to 3D print her designs.
“Oceanz invests a lot in research to realize a sustainable production process,” says Oceanz CEO Erik van der Garde. “This has led to the introduction of Oceanz EcoPowder. This sustainable material has almost the same characteristics as the standard Oceanz PA12. By reusing the 3D printing material, we have virtually no waste stream from our old powder and we can process our material sustainably. This makes 3D printing/prototyping a very sustainable production technique. This doesn’t only give you a good feeling, but also the functional properties of the material remain the same. The zero-waste promise is also redeemed.”
“Nature may seem at first glance random and free-flowing, but if you look on a microscopic level, you can find symmetry and geometry in almost all cell structures,” she says.
Symmetry and geometry can be found in van Daal’s other works, as well, which include a bio-inspired bicycle saddle, a Fibonacci series, and more. Van Daal is a 2010 graduate of HAN – Arnhem, where she studied Industrial Product Design, and a 2014 graduate of the Royal Academy of Art – The Hague, where she received a degree in Industrial Design.
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[Images provided by Oceanz]