The Kunstgewerbemuseum is carrying out work in research area B "Analysis & Synthesis" of the excellence cluster’s project "Origins and Genealogy". The study investigates the relativity of natural and artificial forms. The structural appearance of forms can be seen as the effect of the different processes that shape them.
Research into the origins and genealogy of form aims to describe how a form evolves, comparing both the shaping of artefacts and the ontogenesis of organisms. The Kunstgewerbemuseum’s work focuses on the description and analysis of vegetal forms in jewellery and construction, and their development in Gothic, Jugendstil and "green design" and explores the ideological, aesthetic and functional significance of biological models. An exhibition based on the research with the title "Form and Structure in Nature and Design" is planned.