There is a preconception that design is a top-down kind of practice, that form comes first and is then post-rationalized to ensure proper execution of the design intent.

But Nature doesn't work that way, nor does motherhood. In both, matter comes first—physical and otherwise immaterial. Likewise, design has less to do with formal dictation and more to do with guidance and nurturing, an almost abysmal insight of the 'source material' and what it wants to be. When I refer to mothering in the context of our own work, it is usually in reference to a mental shift from seeing Nature as a boundless, nourishing entity to one that begs nourishment by design. This approach then propels us into the age where we mother Nature by design, 'mother' the verb.