If you’ve ever gone hiking during winter or fall, you’ve likely come home with burrs stuck to your socks or clinging to your sweater. Not only do they peskily grip clothing but when plucking them off one by one, they tend to do a bit of damage, especially to knitwear. Yet, as annoying as burrs may be, they were also the inspiration for an invention that you’ve probably used: Velcro.
While humans have relied on biomimicry as a source of inspiration and innovation since prehistoric times, it was less than 100 years ago that one man saw how the spikes on burrs could be useful in the world of textiles.
For plants, burrs are beyond just useful — they’re vital to their existence. To the unaided human eye, burrs look like little more than brown spiky balls — which they are — but they are also dried flower pods that contain the plant’s seeds. They serve two main purposes: 1) to protect the plants from being eaten by animals by warning them away with their dull color and sharp texture and 2) to spread their seeds by sticking to mobile surfaces.
So back in 1941, when Swiss engineer and inventor Georges de Mestral went hiking with his dog, and his pup returned covered in burrs, the spiky balls were simply doing their job. And de Mestral was doing his by observing how they adhered to his dog’s fur and later studying the burrs under a microscope.
Upon closer observation, de Mestral noticed that the burrs were covered in several hook-like needles. His discovery sparked an almost eight-year-long research journey to replicate the burr’s needles into textile form. Not long after stumbling across nylon thread and inventing a device that could easily cut half of the loops into hooks, he formally patented his invention in 1955 and introduced it as Velcro (a combination of the French words for velvet and crochet).
De Mestral could have simply plucked the burrs off of his dog in annoyance (like the rest of us) and went about his day but instead, he embraced a sense of optimistic curiosity that led to his uncovering of their true purpose and potential.
In homage to his innovative and positive spirit and to the brilliance of nature, we share our latest creation with you. Above the glassy crystal opal in our Emergence necklace sits a twinkling diamond that, however contrary to its colorful counterpart, attaches itself with purpose… reflecting the beauty of what’s right in front of us.
