The teacher that nature is

On being inspired and informed by flora and fauna

Words and images: Lavanya Asthana

Little did I know that I shall be missing my dear friend from childhood so much in my later big-metrocity life that I would always seek and have her around me - nature.

I played and stayed with seeds, roots, leaves, twigs, climbers, soil, mushrooms, pebbles, fish, bark, resins, ferns, plants and insects unidentified. Something was so beautifully appealing about them that I even spent my studying time on trees.

Later in life, during my design education I actually started to study them. Noticing golden proportions, fractals, looking for motifs and crops and making patterns and photographing the very same things and more.

Gradually, after a very long time, I see myself sharing with my students the very same details I used to admire unknowingly— now, knowingly.

Since nature is often around us in our vicinity, it is often helpful to get spontaneous references from it to talk of concepts of design, ideas of composition, contrast, space, shape, colour, harmony, balance and overall aesthetics.

Sometimes I just capture them to use later.

Contrasts

of complimentary colors / natural vs. manmade

of direction and tones

of light and shade

of contrasts

of depth

of size

Harmony

of colors

in rhythm

of tones

of tone and texture

of more colours

of symmetry

All images are Lavanya's own, shot over Delhi, Chandigarh, Dehradoon, Kurukshetra and some Tokyo.

Lavanya Asthana is a practising communication designer with an interest in teaching design. She is a partner at her studio Unlike Design Co. and co-founder of TOWITHFROM, a webstore for contemporary personal and home accessories.