Have you ever thought how perfect nature is? How hard it is to even try to replicate its perfection? As I was reflecting upon this question, I decided to start a little experiment.
I took a pepper from my fridge, cut it in half and stared at it for a while. I started off the adventure by measuring the total length and width of the pepper and drew a rectangle corresponding to its proportions.
I continued by measuring millimetre by millimetre its curves and subtracting the units on each side until I could unite the points and get the contour of the vegetable. For the other half I just flipped the number and drew the peppers reflection.
Just like the mirror command in the CAD softwares, just about 99,94 x more difficult and time consuming. I found every step of this meticulous process fun, but extremely difficult, it did not have much to do with the regular plans and sections an interior designer has to face each day.
Its irregular, sinuous geometry made it hard to obtain a continuous outline using only pens and pencils. Well, and of course, a ruler to measure and a rubber to erase the numerous failures.
After I saw the final result, I realised this was not only a process that gives a creative twist to a technical drawing. The result was not only about transforming something very restrictive and serious such as a section into a fun, yet appealing experiment.
The real outcome turned out to be the exercise of meditation and wonder upon nature’s marvellous designer skills. It’s only when one tries to replicate nature that truly manages to acknowledge that perfection cannot be reproduced.
I am no exception, but this exercise turned out to be a great training for my mind, eyes, patience and hands.
