Front and Moroso explore the theme of wilderness with Design by Nature

Recently presented at Design Miami/Basel, The Nature Furniture Collection is the first result of a research project by Swedish designers Front in collaboration with More-So, the internal division of the Italian design company Moroso created with the objective of enhancing research and experimentation as applied to furnishings-design. The project is called Design by Nature.

The new pieces of furniture are recreations of fragments of wilderness, using 3D -scanning, milling and weaving. The objects appear like pieces of landscapes, moss-covered rocks, mounds, snowdrifts, three-dimensional forms found in nature that suggest places for the human body to occupy. “We wanted the pieces to create the feeling that someone had lifted a whole glade from a forest with a gigantic shovel and moved it to a home,” says Sofia Lagerkvist, co-founder and partner of Front. “We documented these places using different techniques, both high tech and traditional. We wanted to collect both the dimensions and physical properties, but also the experience and atmosphere of nature. There were lots of paintings and drawings, and we 3D-scanned entire areas in different natural settings and used those forms to create the pieces of furniture,” adds Anna Lindgren, co-founder and partner of Front.

The textiles that cover these complex forms are an integral part of the works. Images from Front’s scanning process were digitally rebuilt and woven in tapestries customised to fit the three-dimensional furniture pieces. It will be like sitting in a three-dimensional painting or tapestry of a piece of nature.

The design approach behind the works pays close attention to nature, and the works build on research about the physical and mental health effects, as well as the cultural and psychological significance, of natural settings, especially in Front’s native Sweden. “Many studies have proven that being close to nature has many therapeutic qualities and is good for personal and public health. The fundamental part of humans relations to their environment that we are interested in experimenting with,” explains the designer.

Another part of Design by Nature has been a study of structures built by animals. The pottery wasp builds its nest in the form of a pot of clay, using material it takes from the surrounding earth. The Mole Cricket creates a hole in the ground that amplifies its mating song to over 100 decibels. The smallest structure, built by a single-celled amoeba, is just 0.05 mm across. These are traces of how animals source from their environments. Anna says: “Our interest has been to look at how those structures work and how they relate to their surroundings,” shares the designer.