Creative Voices: Decrypting Fractal Patterns With 13&9 Design

When Anastasija and Martin Lesjak call 13&9 Design—their studio in Graz, Austria “interdisciplinary,” it only hints at the diverse experience they bring to the table. She’s a product and fashion designer and a doctor of medicine; he’s a former pro soccer prospect and successful DJ who cofounded Innocad Architecture in 1999, an innovative firm with residential, corporate, hospitality, healthcare, and interior projects around the globe.

After collaborating on a competition to turn a historic Graz building into a visitor center—their interactive, multisensory proposal won—the couple founded 13&9 in 2013, building the studio around an inclusive ethos that seeks a broad range of inputs and emphasizes deep research. The latter led to another collaborative enterprise. “A decade ago, we wanted to understand more about biophilic design—what is the secret connection between humans and nature?” Martin Lesjak begins. “We read some academic papers on fractal patterns by Richard Taylor, and I said to Anastasija, ‘This guy really knows the science behind it.’”

As well he might. Taylor—a professor of physics, psychology, and art at the University of Oregon—is a polymath, painter, and photographer who also directs Fractals Research, a company that analyzes and generates the complex patterns which repeat at different scales and are frequently found in nature, from fern fronds and broccoli florets to cumulus clouds and river networks. Fractals, it turns out, are central to our instinctual response to the natural world and to the sense of well-being it engenders.

Recognizing a kindred multidisciplinary spirit, the Lesjaks contacted Taylor and, since 2018, have worked closely with his company in creating science-informed, human-focused fractal designs for the built environment. Projects include flooring collections for Mohawk Group—Fractal Findings, the most recent; Renaturation, their first wallcovering portfolio, set to debut at NeoCon, for Momentum Textiles & Wallcovering; and the Fractal Chapel, a contemplative architectural space at State Hospital Graz, which has just received a 2025 IIDA Award. We spoke with the couple about fractals and their role in biophilic design.

13&9 Design Crafts Fractal Designs For The Built Environment

Interior Design: How has Professor Richard Taylor’s research on fractal patterns deepened your understanding of the way humans relate to nature?

Martin Lesjak: Working with NASA on what happens to astronauts when they’re in space, disconnected from nature, Richard discovered that our visual and neural systems have evolved to recognize and process fractal patterns, which he calls the building blocks of nature. The code is everywhere: A bird running around randomly on the beach looking for food is actually following a fractal pattern; our eyes follow a similar path when they jump around scanning a room. Lack of exposure to fractals causes stress, while good access can reduce it by up to 60 percent.

Anastasija Lesjak: Our visual and other senses are thirsty for these algorithmic patterns, but Richard found that it doesn’t matter whether we perceive them in nature or in graphical form—our brains are wired to search for them, and we still respond, even with only brief exposure. We have what he calls “fractal fluency.”

There are complex fractals, like dense forests, and simpler ones, like clouds. The degree of complexity is measured by a mathematical parameter called the D value. In terms of neuropsychology, mid-D value fractals are best. They are prevalent in nature and have a relaxing effect on us but also engaging and energizing.

ID: So like a good narrative, they balance what’s simple and comforting with what’s complex and stimulating?

ML: Yes, that sweet spot has a stress-reducing effect. Experiments show a strong connection between this lowering effect and what people find aesthetically pleasing. With Fractals Research, we have created software that can generate mid-D value patterns—extracting the best from nature in a controlled, scientific way—and apply them in the built environment.

AL: There’s a constant back-and-forth between us and Richard’s team. By now, we know what parameters to include in the initial design process, but once a pattern’s created, we send it to them to test for its fractal quality. Then they send back their analysis, and so on.

ID: You’ve done three fractal carpet tile collections with Mohawk Group. What’s the latest one?

ML: Fractal Findings—we call them “organic fractals” because they’re not computer-generated but derived from natural patterns we found in Iceland, broken sea ice and wild animal tracks. These aren’t reproduced like photographs but abstracted to make something new that meets the manufacturing and installation requirements, yet has the same effect as the original. We’ve tried to give designers the tools to make their own visual landscapes—like being farmers cocreating with nature!

ID: You took a similar approach to Renaturation, your first wallcoverings collection, for Momentum.

AL: There are many renaturation projects in Europe, where nature is allowed to reclaim developed spaces—like the River Aire in Switzerland, once canalized but now free to create its own meandering bed. We started with the poetic concept of using fractals to “renature” architectural spaces. Each of the three patterns references the natural world—the Swiss river, moss on a wall, and tree bark, which began as a hand drawing. All embrace organic irregularity.

ID: Light generates dynamic fractal environments in two contrasting projects: Mosh Bar & Dinner in Bucharest, Romania, and the Fractal Chapel in Graz.

ML: Mosh transforms from restaurant to bar to dance club over the evening. A perforated ceiling and controlled lighting system beam down fractal patterns over the space, playing an important role in the transition. Late, when there’s smoke, the place looks and feels like the jungle! The hospital chapel is one of the most impactful spaces we’ve ever done, a tiny sanctuary in a building where people are under a lot of stress. An aluminum screen with fractal perforations wraps the whole room, backlit on one side by sunlight and on the other by artificial light, so there’s an immersive, slow-moving play of fractal light and shadow all the time—like walking through a forest with the leaves moving. It’s the closest thing to being in nature.

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