This household plant cultivator doubles as a compost bin for users to fertilize their kitchen waste

Designed to reduce domestic waste, Paradise is an automated plant cultivator and compost bin that uses integrated technology to prompt users when the compost or plants need tending.

As our worlds slowly retreat to the confines of our homes, our time spent outdoors has gradually decreased. While nothing beats the great outdoors, biophilia-inspired household products have come out as a result of the pandemic to turn our homes into glorified greenhouses. Integrating greenery into our interior spaces has never been more popular from vertical gardens to planter cork boards.

While spending more time at home has brought some much-needed rejuvenation to our interior design, it has also contributed to a global increase in domestic waste. Inspired to change that, designer Robin Akira created Paradise, a household plant cultivator with integrated compost bins and an odor-sealing lid to make use of and reduce our domestic waste.

Conceptualized as a rolling cart, Paradise is comprised of modular pieces that work together to provide optimal conditions for growing plants. Starting from its top, Paradise features an LED strip that pours artificial sunlight over integrated planters located on top of Paradise’s first module.

Lined with six different planters, the first module is where all the action takes place. The first module is actually a top lid that lifts to reveal a water reservoir. The water reservoir allows space for extra water to pour into as the plants above are watered.

Just beneath the water reservoir, users can find a status bar that indicates the overall health of each plant. Paradise hosts an internal chip that keeps track of plant conditions, as Akira explains, “[an] internal chip of the machine controls temperature, (35℃-55℃) intelligent constant temperature fermentation, a regular reminder to discharge fertilizer liquid, storage for secondary use.” The fertilizer bin is located just below this status bar.

The deep fertilizing bin stands just to the left of an embedded case for a shovel. There, users can deposit their kitchen waste over the soil before adding fertilizing bacteria to start the process.

Then, once the contents are mixed together, an odor-sealing lid can be placed on top for composting to begin. The machine takes care of the rest, prompting users to discharge the fertilizer liquid and indicating when the composting has finished.

Designer: Robin Akira

Not too big and not too small, Paradise packs a lot of functions into a single product appropriate for any sized home. 

Paradise is comprised of multiple modules for easy assembly and intuitive operation.

The caster wheels afford a sense of portability, requiring only to be plugged in for use. 

The status bar indicated to users when the compost is finished and when plants need tending.

An integrated water reservoir discharges excess water once the internal chip alerts users.

The square container is where users can compost their kitchen scraps and then an additional rectangular container allows users to store their compost. 

The post This household plant cultivator doubles as a compost bin for users to fertilize their kitchen waste first appeared on Yanko Design.

This at-home plant cultivator keeps a minimalist design and grows any plant indoor, in your kitchen!

Balance is an at-home plant cultivator that keeps a small enough size and minimalist design to fit into any modern kitchen.

The pandemic proved that having access to your source of produce should be as commonplace as having access to clean drinking water. Still, the majority of us rely on grocery stores and delivery apps to get our produce and fresh greenery. While keeping our eyes peeled for buzz words like organic and local harvest is a personal choice, there’s no way of knowing exactly under what conditions and where our produce is harvested.

Balance, a plant cultivator designed by Designer Dot, is designed for those of us who’d like access to a personal supply of fresh produce at home without the hassle of tending to a garden day-in, day-out.

Designer Dot is known for its extensive catalog of household appliances. Designer Dot is all about merging minimalist aesthetics with convenient design from wireless portable chargers to self-contained coffee brewers.

When creating Balance, the team at Designer Dot sought to conceptualize an at-home plant cultivator that’s compact enough to fit into any modern kitchen and inconspicuous in its minimalist design to adapt to any interior design scheme.

Stocked similarly to most plant cultivators, Balance comes with pull-out drawers that contain pods and sprout cavities for produce and crops to germinate from and grow. The drawers themselves can be removed to allow ceiling height for taller plants to grow, which users can swap in and out for different plants accordingly.

Once the seeds are planted, Balance takes care of the rest. Inside Balance, LEDs pour nonstop grow light over the seedlings to ensure healthy crops come time to harvest. To prevent the LEDs from busying the kitchen too much, Designer Dot built-in scroll blinds to shield the cultivator’s light from view.

Keeping a rather minimal exterior, Balance originally comes in a blush pink shade, which users can customize to fit their tastes.

Metallic ribbing with integrated haptic sensor technology runs down the length of Balance’s front facade, functioning as the appliance’s control panel. There, users will find the on/off button, temperature dials, as well as other control switches that work to optimize growing conditions for the plants inside. Additionally, like most modern home appliances, Balance comes with an accompanying app that suggests the best care for each user’s specific plants.

Designer: Designer Dot

Balance’s integrated smartphone app alerts users when plants require special care. 

Intuitive app reminders signal to users the overall conditions of their plants. 

When placed in the kitchen, Balance’s scroll blinds provide a stylish way of covering the appliance’s bright LEDs. 

Along Balance’s front facade, metallic ribbing encases haptic control panels.

The post This at-home plant cultivator keeps a minimalist design and grows any plant indoor, in your kitchen! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This indoor vertical farm uses LED lights + plant pods to cultivate more sustainable lifestyles!

Reaching the midyear point of 2021, it seems clear that a lot of us could benefit from more sustainable lifestyles. More sustainable lifestyle practices, like harvesting our own vegetable garden or using reusable products instead of paper or plastic ones, surely helps the environment at large and it also gives us some more agency over the homes we cultivate. Indoor vertical farming is one approach towards a sustainable lifestyle that more and more people adopt in their everyday lives. In response to the surge in popularity over vertical farming, the Berlin-based design studio, The Subdivision, has visualized its own indoor vertical farming product called Agrilution.

Based on the 3D visualizations developed by the team at The Subdivision, Agrilution operates like most indoor vertical farming products. Nicknamed Plantcube, Agrilution forms the shape of a small refrigerator, containing two sliding shelves that host the crops and soil planters. With interior LED grow lights, the crops inside of Agrilution are nourished with as much mock sunlight as they might need to thrive. In addition to the LED grow lights, Agrilution comes with an app that helps users control the caretaking of their plants.

The app uses smart technology in conjunction with vertical farming techniques by indicating to users when their vertical garden might need more water or soil replenishment. Following today’s smart farming and gardening wave, Agrilution turns farming into an accessible and simpler task for those living in smaller spaces who would still like to develop sustainable lifestyle practices.

Regarding style, Agrilution consists of sleek minimalist and stark black, New Aesthetic design elements. The simple appearance of Agrilution grants it inconspicuous access to most interior living spaces, but its sophisticated black-and-white color scheme gives it a refined touch and flair of elegance. With more and more people adopting eco-friendly lifestyles, products like Agrilution invite sustainability through the front door.

Designer: The Subdivision

Inconspicuous by design, Agrilution can fit into most living spaces to indoor farming is always accessible.

Built with two sliding shelves, Agrilution has enough room to keep plenty of crops for gardening and harvesting.

The glazed glass door of Agrilution allows users to view the progress of their crops at all times.

Interior LED grow lights line the inside of Agrilution to always keep the plants inside nourished with mock sunlight.

Agrilution is built like a mini-fridge with everything from optic white, plastic interiors to a soft-close suctioned front door.

Each sliding shelf of Agrilution is dotted with soil plant cubes that host the seeds for plants and crops.

Comprising the same area that a miniature refrigerator might, Agrilution doesn’t take up too much space.

Connected to an app, users can monitor and take care of their plants all from their smartphone.