Design and the Wondrous: On the Nature of Ornament

This lushly produced volume presents a new narrative of design, situated somewhere between plant life and ornament, nature and artifice.

Through essays by several authors, it explores the ornament’s role with respect to morphogenesis, by which the object is continually transformed through an evolving dynamic of forms.

With the arrival of the digital age, the ornament’s role in design has been greatly modified. No longer a simple motif, it is used as an animated form.

At the intersection of information sciences and biology, designers utilize 3D printing to create carefully calculated objects based on organic growth.

With contributions by Marie-Ange Brayer, Spyros Papapetros, Martine Dancer-Mourès, and Sophie Fétro.

Produced as part of the eponymous exhibition at the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole, which examined the link between “the natural and the supernatural” while exploring the collision of nature-derived forms with new technologies and materials.

Edited by Marie-Ange Brayer and Martine Dancer-Mourès

Designed by E+K

Published by Hyx Editions, 2019
Bilingual, in French and English

Softcover, 160 pages, 135 color and b&w images, 9.5 × 13 inches

ISBN: 978-2-37-382015-7