Over the course of its history, design has never lost sight of nature as a term of comparison, sometimes taking from it, sometimes moving away from it. To investigate the complex relationship between the two terms, design and nature, we cannot ignore the evolution of man and how it has been profoundly influenced by technological innovation, which is the most evident result of science. Tracing an evolutionary line of design thinking, a double trajectory can be registered: on the one hand the tension towards progress and the myth of the machine, on the other hand the idea of a harmonious co-evolution with nature and the need to be reconnected with it. Besides, it is progress that allows mankind to thoroughly investigate natural mechanisms and make them their own. Contemporary design, autonomous but at the same time increasingly interdisciplinary, has got blurred boundaries which intersect with the most advanced fields of biological sciences. This evolution has opened up a whole new field of investigation that multiplies the opportunities of innovation, especially from a sustainability-oriented point of view. Today the dramatic breaking of the balance between man and nature has turned into the concept of permanent emergency, which is now matter of greatest interest for design, a design that attempts to react, mend, adapt to change in an authentically resilient way.

Sustainability as an approach to the contemporary textile and fashion design; not only linked to the environmental vision but concerning the economy, respect for people’s work and production. “A new dominant social paradigm (DSP) would focus on creating apparel products that are more efficient in material use, production and consumer utility, as well as better meeting the human needs of the consumer base, inherently more social than material needs. Similarly, clothing education in the dominant new social paradigm would promote the development of skills that would most likely include understanding human needs and ecosystem limitations, working collaboratively with the market rather than trying to dominate it and an understanding of local culture and tradition “ (LeHew, 2011).

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Abstract:The paper describes a didactic experience that completes a project with a practical approach with the aim of sharing objectives and methodologies of two universities in different countries, and of testing new ways for design teaching. The university teaching is confronted increasingly with the requirement to put in contact the education to practice, at the same time, it is essential to integrate the teaching approaches of other realities and ask to students to share languages and tools with the aim to increase their skills and expertise for suitable solutions. The experience reported in the paper concerns a experimental shared teaching program, conducted on the nutrition topic, that helps students to management all phases of the project from the scenario definition to the exhibition of prototypes. The didactic experience, meant like knowledge-oriented approach to shared ways of life and belongings, prepares the theoretical tools to deal consciously strategic projects of local development.