Why are people drawn to design inspired by nature?

Rather than the term "Nature" I would use "organic" in the art sense of "flowing form" as juxtaposed with rigid geometric forms. In balancing yin yang, a small amount of geometric form can outweigh large organic forms in claiming attention, and thus the proportion needs to refelct this for us to feel a balanced feng shui. We have become accustomed to being surrounded with 90 degree angles (count them on one room) which are jarriing to the eye. When we include softer rounded edges, our eyes (and spirits?), hungry for balance, can rest and feel nourished. The idea of a hand sculpted house rather than a cost effective mass produced structure appeals to the artisan in all of us, whether we would live in one or not.

I would support the notion that people are drawn to "design inspired by nature". We have to consider what "inspired by nature" means. The notion that chrome furniture is somehow "unnatural", common among us natural builder types, in my view is diminution of nature, which manifests in amazing splendor. Look for instance, at these unaltered photographs of water: http://www.naturebeingart.org/galleries/water/

"Natural" design can take many different forms and be accomplished with a broad spectrum of materials and styles. Although "fashion" comes and goes, nature inspired designs have been with us for millennia, in all cultures. Natural design will always transcend the social implications of design, such as modernity, economics and class.

In the modern world people's experience is often dominated, and limited, by graphic, two-dimensional media. People in other societies experience the world quite differently, with a keen sense of space, strong principles of order and symmetry, an appreciation of imperfection and ambiguity, logarithmic progressions and fractal scaling, repetition, texture and imperfection.

When people sit and spend time with designs that express these qualities, they will gravitate to them. If they spend their time flipping through magazines, and have no time to sit and let inspiration come from nature, then they may choose flash over substance, at least for a little while. Good design will incorporate principles found in nature, and will stay around; flash is, well, a flash in the pan.

I think this to be so because people supposedly have lived on Earth for 3 Million years, and most of that time was probably spent in temporary shelters such as caves, dugouts, homes which borrowed techniques from beavers, birds and dirt daubers, and so on. Look at a conventional house... doesn't it seem unnatural? It doesn't "fit" huh? What's easier, to make a shelter from sticks and stones and mud gathered locally (something you can do yourself) or buy chain saw, cut your trees, have them hauled to the mill, haul them back, then nail everything up with store bought nails, insulate with store bought fiberglass, and everything else in your home will be store bought too? It is no mystery why natives use native materials. But why we are drawn to it? Because we are familiar with it.