Our work at Nervous System combines scientific research, computer graphics, mathematics, and digital fabrication to explore a new paradigm of product design and manufacture. Instead of designing objects, we craft computational systems that result in a myriad of distinct creations. These forms are realized using computer-controlled manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC routing.

We are fascinated by natural processes that produce complex forms from simple rule sets and local interactions. Our projects center around adapting the logic of these processes into computational tools; we do this by translating scientific theories and models of pattern formation into algorithms for design. We abstract a natural phenomenon into a set of rules that specifies discrete instructions for a computer to carry out. The design systems we encode are generative; they have no fixed outcome. Rather than thinking of them as mere tools, we consider them our medium. These systems are digital materials with inherent properties and behaviors.

  1. Floraform

    2014
  2. Kinematics

    2013
  3. Xylem and Hyphae

    2010
  4. Corollaria

    2020
  5. Grimes Bodysuit with Asher Levine

    2022
  6. Porifera

    2018
  7. data-driven midsoles with New Balance

    2015
  8. Cellular Structures

    2007
  9. Generative Jigsaw Puzzles

    2012
  10. Growing Objects

    2014
  11. Zoetropes

    2014
  12. Laplacian

    2011
  13. Custom Jewelry

    2015
  14. Reaction

    2010
  15. Generators for Motorola

    2013
  16. Colony

    2013
  17. Algae

    2008
  18. Dendrite

    2007