We have a true passion for

our natural world

 

We are a specialist publishing company who focus on sharing knowledge of Biophilic Design and producing wildlife and landscape images and audiovisuals to help you bring nature into your lives, transforming your homes, workplaces, hotels, schools, hospitals, healthcare environments.

I feel Biophilic Design is a key pivot in helping unlock sustainable building practices as well as providing mental and physical wellbeing in public spaces (from healthcare through to education, the workplace and our homes).

If Biophilic Design had been implemented in our built environment 20- years ago, our cities and towns would look so different, and we would not be in a back-footed position trying to heal the environment. It’s not too late, and I’m hopeful that Biophilic Design will be one of the major keys in unlocking sustainable practices in the Built Environment all over the world.
— Vanessa Champion PhD, AMRSPH, Editor and Founder, The Journal of Biophilic Design

I set up the publishing company Journal of Biophilic Design (orginally called Argenta Wellness) to help bring nature closer to people, to help us reconnect to our living world. I have always loved living close to nature, feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin, the soft breath of a light breeze lifting my hair, the salt spray on my lips from the sea, listening to bird song and just being. It was after chance comment from a colleague who uttered the word “biophilia” a few years ago that really got my attention. My background is entrenched in languages, communication and detailed research, in fact I started life as an academic, specialising in Ancient Greek and Latin of all things at UCL, so you can imagine my brain immediately clicked the meaning of “biophilia” - “the love of life, or living things”. I went off and researched this phenomenon and discovered that many designers quote E.O.Wilson’s seminal book from the 1980s. What they miss I think, is that his concept wasn’t just about using nature elements inside but actually respecting nature and getting involved in nature however we can.


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My own professional life has taken me into many walks of life and has given me much responsibility and experience, working in a variety of offices, environments with varying (and sometimes unbelievable) stress levels not just in the City of London and around the UK, Paris and elsewhere in Europe but also in Africa, India and further afield. Always nature has been my escape, it has been my tonic, my “home” on the go. I sometimes joke that if I’m out with friends or colleagues and I go missing, I am either in a bookshop or sitting under a tree…

My professional life has allowed me to establish a multi-media company, (www.vanessachampion.co.uk) creating visual and written content using photography, audio and film. I also ran a specialist London Newspaper. I am now combining all of this into what The Journal of Biophilic Design stands for, to help unite us with our natural world.

Using high definition photography, video and audio to help give a new perspective, a new view, some space, life and air to as many people as possible whether they are at home, in hospital, co-working, sitting in a boardroom or just need some “time out” to help them make another day with a better point of view and mindset.”

Our academic foundation has enabled us to use our research and expertise to create the most effective biophilic images of NATURE for healing beautiful interiors to transform environments for everyone.

We publish the Journal of Biophilic Design to help you learn about biophilia and how Biophilic design can really help your wellbeing, focus, productivity and happiness.

For our catalogue of images we publish - We enhance our own stunning photography with a specific and researched way of processing and composition, enhancing colours for warmth or focus, incorporating pathways, views, bringing up mid tones and balancing contrast to inspire and uplift your workplace and homes.

Our partners are leading workplace consultants, manufacturers, architects, interior designers, ergonomics specialists, landscape designers, facility managers and agents.


 

What we do and…


…why we do what we do

Scientists and psychologists have, since the 1960s, identified the enormous benefits that living with nature confers on us, but it is only now that interior and exterior design is really starting to celebrate this progressive trend to lessen, not only our environmental impact, but also to enhance our well-being. 

Through our Journal of Biophilic Design you can learn more about the medical research conducted on the impact biophilic design can have on not only the well-being of your staff, patients and families but also your budgets.

In 1984 the biologist and double Pulitzer Prize winner, Edward O. Wilson defined the term biophilia as “the innate tendency [in human beings] to focus on life and lifelike process. ..Our existence depends on this propensity, our spirit is woven from it, hopes rise on its currents.”[1] In other words, as humans we love nature, we come from it, are part of it and we respond positively to it. To shield ourselves away from nature is like removing light from our world. The benefits of having a simulation of nature in our working day environment as well as in our homes are huge and as designers we can be inspired by and embrace this trend.

Remember how you feel when you take yourself off into the woods to warm your face as the sunlight streams through the leaves above your head or take a walk by the coast to feel the salt-spray on your lips, listen to seagulls and pick up shells from the beach. These simple pleasures that we sometimes forget about, can transform our mindset, improving stress levels and boost our immune system. It’s not just crazy tree-hugging Southern-Californian theory, it is backed up by science.  In fact, it has been proven that windows looking out to plants and trees can help speed up healing and are increasingly featured in the design of new hospitals. If cutting a window in an interior wall isn’t doable, then install a view onto the natural world.

We publish a range of nature prints and home wear which supports this Biophilia movement and to help you bring nature closer to your everyday.

biophilic environment enhances our lives and uplifts our mindset, helping us focus, it fortifies our immune and emotional systems on a neural level and for those of us who are in bad shape can boost our well-being including the “neuro-endocryne and immunological system”[2]

[1] Wilson, Edward O. (1984). BiophiliaCambridgeHarvard University PressISBN 0-674-07442-4.

[2] Caperna A., Serafini S. (2015). Biourbanism as new epistemological perspective between Science, Design and Nature. In Architecture & Sustainability: Critical Perspectives. “Generating sustainability concepts from an architectural perspective”, KU Leuven – Faculty of Engineering, Belgium). ISBN 9789462920880.


Call us +44 7747 025361 Email us editor@journalofbiophilicdesign.com

You can buy this print too. Have a look through our catalogue online to enjoy a leisurely walk outside.

You can buy this print too. Have a look through our catalogue online to enjoy a leisurely walk outside.

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