Jennifer Bliss Acorn was conducting research on the behavioral and biochemical changes in the human body, studying people’s autonomic nervous system (involuntary) reactions during commercial office indoor nature immersion, when she began collaborating with architects to “bring nature inside” multi-dwelling unit, luxury home/estate, hotel/lodging and restaurant commercial buildings. Her work in the building profession grew organically into a sustainable business over the course of the past two decades.

Acorn’s journey, weaving “ivory tower” behavioral and biochemical science together with “real world” aesthetic market demand, evolved naturally into her current practice of biophilic design, research and commissioned art. Drawing on her heritage, Eikenøtt Interiorscapes is the newest edition to her research firm Oak Nut Research and her ceramics studio Organic Designs which she started in 1998 while a student at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Although biophilic interior design has been a core focal point in recent years, Acorn is equally well known for her legacy of work in the academic world of social and behavioral research, guiding hundreds of other researchers to successfully initiate their own human research studies. In 2020 she was invited to establish a new role in human studies research at California State University, Monterey Bay, an honor she continues to hold to this day.