Tag Archives: sustainable design

Tray210 Proves Recycled Plastic Doesn’t Have to Look Grey and Boring

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Recycled plastic products often fall into two camps: grey utilitarian bins or loud, speckled experiments that feel more like proof of concept than something you want on your desk. Tray210 recycled, a collaboration between Korean studio intenxiv and manufacturer INTOPS under the rmrp brand, takes a different approach, using recycled plastics and waste additives to create a tray that feels like a considered object first and an eco story second, treating material diversity as part of the design language.

Tray210 recycled is a circular tray with three compartments, an evolution of the original Tray210 form. It grew out of INTOPS’ grecipe eco-material platform and hida’s CMF proposals, which is a long way of saying it is the result of a tight loop between material science and industrial design. The goal was to pursue material diversity and break away from the cheap recycled stereotype, making something that belongs in sight rather than hidden under a desk.

Designer: Intenxiv x INTOPS

The form is intuitive, a 210 mm circle with a raised, ribbed bar running across the middle and two shallow wells on either side. The central groove is sized for pens, pencils, or chopsticks, and the ribs keep cylindrical objects from rolling away. The side compartments are open and shallow, perfect for earbuds, clips, rings, or keys. It is the kind of layout you understand at a glance without needing instructions or labels; just place your pen where the grooves are.

The material story is where Tray210 recycled gets interesting. Multiple recycled blends reflect their sources: Clam and Wood use 80 percent recycled PP with shell and wood waste, Charcoal adds 15 percent charcoal to 80 percent recycled PP, and Stone uses 10–50 percent recycled ABS. Transparent and Marble variants use recycled PC or PCABS with ceramic particles or marble-like pigment. Each colorway is visually tied to its waste stream, making the origin legible and intentional.

The aim is to create a design closer to the lifestyle rmrp pursues, breaking away from the impression recycled plastic generally gives. The Clam and Wood versions read as soft, muted pastels with fine speckling, Charcoal feels like a deep, almost architectural grey, and Stone and Transparent lean into translucency and particulate. Instead of hiding the recycled content, the CMF work uses it as texture and character, closer to terrazzo or stoneware than to injection-molded scrap that just happens to be grey.

The combination of clear zoning and tactile surfaces makes Tray210 recycled feel at home on a desk, entryway shelf, or bedside table. The central groove keeps your favorite pen or stylus always in the same place, while the side wells catch whatever tends to float around, from SD cards to jewelry. The different material stories let you pick a version that matches how you want the space to feel: calm, earthy, industrial, or a bit more playful.

A simple tray can carry a lot of design thinking, from intuitive ergonomics to material storytelling and responsible sourcing. Tray210 recycled is not trying to save the world on its own, but it does show how recycled plastic can be turned into something you actually want to touch and keep in sight. For people who care about both what an object does and what it is made from, that is a quiet but meaningful upgrade over another anonymous catch-all that eventually ends up in a drawer.

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Auk Mini Grows 4 Herbs on Your Counter, No App or Pump Required

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The usual indoor herb story goes like this: supermarket pots that die in a week, plastic hydroponic kits that look like lab equipment, and a general mismatch between those gadgets and a carefully considered kitchen. Auk Mini is a Scandinavian take on the problem, a compact indoor garden designed to live on the counter without screaming appliance, especially in its new cork-wrapped edition that adds sustainable texture to clean lines.

Auk Mini is the smaller sibling to Auk’s original six-pot system, a four-pot hydroponic planter that has already sold more than 100,000 units. The base is now available wrapped in natural cork, alongside oak and walnut finishes, turning the planter into something closer to furniture than a gadget. It ships with a 100-day money-back guarantee and has won awards from T3 and Esquire, but the story is the cork and how it changes presence.

Designer: Auk

The core hardware is a 17.5 × 8.5 inch base with four oval pots over a 0.8 gallon reservoir, flanked by wooden uprights holding a full-spectrum LED bar. There is no pump or app; you fill the tank, add nutrients, set the light cycle, and plants wick water through coco fiber. The light runs a long “summer day” schedule, and you top up water every week or two, checking the side wheel that turns red when empty.

The material mix uses recyclable ABS for the base, recycled aluminum for the light, and American timber for the uprights, then adds the cork wrap. Cork brings warmth, texture, and a sustainable story, softening the white plastic and metal into something that feels at home next to cutting boards and ceramics. The oak and walnut options do a similar job, but cork has a quieter, more neutral presence that works across more interiors.

Auk Mini ships with basil and parsley seeds, but you can use any brand’s seeds, as the system deliberately avoids pod lock-in. Herbs and salads are usually ready in four to six weeks, tomatoes and chilies in eight to twelve. The ideal temperature is around 69–79 °F, and a single crop can last four to ten months if you harvest little by little from the top, encouraging new growth and keeping the plants productive.

Maintenance is a simple loop: refill water and nutrients, harvest regularly, and occasionally swap out the coco fiber. Auk sells refill kits with coco fiber and nutrients for $35, and recommends fresh fiber for each new crop, though you can reuse it. Cleaning between crops is a quick rinse and wipe, not a full teardown, which keeps the system feeling more like a kitchen tool than a science project.

Auk Mini, especially in cork, is designed to disappear into daily life. It is a planter that looks good enough to leave out, a light that doubles as a soft counter glow, and a routine that boils down to topping up water and snipping herbs. For people who want fresh basil without babysitting pots on a windowsill or dealing with finicky smart gardens, it feels like a quiet, well-designed compromise between nature and the realities of indoor living.

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Fairbuds XL Gen 2 Drivers Fit Gen 1 Headphones for a €100 Upgrade

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Most wireless headphones quietly become disposable. Batteries fade, cushions peel, and people replace the whole thing every few years instead of fixing what broke. Fairphone’s first Fairbuds XL were an outlier, modular and self-repairable with screws instead of glue. Gen 2 is the next step, not a clean break but a refinement that tries to make keeping and upgrading a pair of headphones feel as normal as replacing them.

Fairbuds XL Gen 2 are over-ear headphones that keep the same modular skeleton but add new 40-mm dynamic drivers, refined tuning, and updated materials. Fairphone claims 30 hours of listening, active noise cancelling with ambient mode, Bluetooth or USB-C wired listening, and two colorways, Forest Green and Horizon Black, which deepen the original palette into something a bit more mature and less obviously plastic.

Designer: Fairphone

The drivers are the most interesting change. Gen 2 ships with new 40-mm dynamic drivers and updated tuning for a more natural, detailed sound, but those drivers are also sold separately as modules. Owners of the 2023 Fairbuds XL can open their existing headphones with a screwdriver and slot in the new drivers, keeping everything else while upgrading the sound. That turns the Gen 2 launch into both a new product and a parts catalog.

The comfort story centers on materials. The headband now uses a breathable net fabric, and the ear cushions switch to a soft birdseye mesh, which improves comfort during long sessions. The IP54 rating handles dust and splash resistance, and the new material identity balances durability with a sleeker look. The switch from PU leather to mesh is practical for warm environments and long wear, without sacrificing the ability to take everything apart when it wears.

The modular design remains unchanged, with nine replaceable parts, including the battery, cushions, drivers, headband, and covers, all held together with screws and no glue. The battery is easily removable, the three-year warranty extends the standard two years, and the LONGTIME™ label certifies products designed for longevity and repairability. The goal is to keep components in use instead of sending whole headphones to the landfill when one piece fails.

Advanced noise cancelling with a switchable ambient mode, an upgraded Fairbuds app with new presets and customizable EQ, and Bluetooth with dual-point connectivity let you move between phone and laptop. You can also plug in over USB-C for battery-free listening. Gen 2 adds auto power-off after 30 minutes of inactivity with ANC off, saving battery and extending runtime per charge, which is a small but thoughtful improvement.

Most Gen 2 products pretend Gen 1 never happened. Fairbuds XL Gen 2 ships drivers that fit both, which means the launch doubles as a parts drop for anyone who bought the original two years ago. That feels unusual enough to notice, especially at €249 for a full headset or roughly €100 to just swap the drivers. Whether or not that changes anyone’s mind about buying repairable gear, it at least shows that upgrading can be designed in from the start instead of being treated as impossible or inconvenient.

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Japanese Startup Brings Wasabi Farming to Shipping Containers

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In a shipping container parked next to Macnica’s headquarters in Yokohama, an innovative revolution in Japanese agriculture is taking root. Inside the 40-foot steel box, 1,800 premium wasabi plants thrive under LED lights, nourished by circulating purified water and monitored by AI-powered sensors. This isn’t a futuristic concept. It’s a solution to a very real crisis threatening one of Japan’s most iconic flavors. Tokyo-based AgriTech startup NEXTAGE has partnered with global technology firm Macnica to develop the Wasabi Cultivation Module. This container-based plant factory allows wasabi to be grown anywhere in the world.

The innovation comes as Japan grapples with a growing wasabi shortage driven by multiple converging pressures. Climate change, declining agricultural workers, and the strict environmental demands of traditional cultivation have created a perfect storm for this notoriously temperamental crop. Wasabi has always required clean water, precise temperature control, and meticulous soil management. Traditionally grown in cool mountain streams, the plant is particularly vulnerable to typhoons and floods. Climate change has intensified these challenges, threatening the survival of historic wasabi farms that have operated for generations. Global demand continues to surge alongside the worldwide popularity of Japanese cuisine, but supply has struggled to keep pace.

Designer: Nextage & Macnica

The cultivation module addresses these vulnerabilities through total environmental control. Each container houses five-tiered shelves equipped with sophisticated systems, including air conditioning, dehumidifiers, LED lighting, water temperature controllers, and carbon dioxide management devices. Cameras and sensors throughout the container continuously monitor conditions, tracking everything from temperature fluctuations to door usage that might affect air circulation. This data feeds into an AI-powered remote monitoring system, allowing NEXTAGE experts to provide real-time cultivation guidance to operators who may have no prior farming experience. The technology packages decades of specialized knowledge into an accessible, turnkey solution.

Perhaps most impressive is the dramatic acceleration in harvest times. The module cultivates Matsuma Wasabi, a premium variety from Wakayama Prefecture that is highly prized in high-end restaurants for its balanced aroma, spiciness, sweetness, and distinctive flavor profile. In natural conditions, this exceptional variety requires 20 to 24 months to reach maturity. Inside the precisely controlled environment of the cultivation module, the time drops to approximately 10 months. This dramatic reduction doesn’t compromise quality but rather optimizes growth conditions that would be impossible to maintain consistently in traditional outdoor cultivation, where weather and seasonal variations create unavoidable challenges.

Macnica became the pioneering customer in December 2023, installing a module at its Shin-Yokohama headquarters as both a demonstration facility and agricultural innovation laboratory. The semiconductor and IT company brought substantial technical expertise to the partnership, contributing specialized knowledge in growth visualization systems, communication technology, and customized LED development specifically designed for plant cultivation. In January 2024, following months of refinement and testing, the two companies officially launched commercial sales of the modules to businesses and agricultural entrepreneurs. NEXTAGE founder Takuya Nakamura, who started the company after witnessing the devastation of traditional wasabi fields, secured Series A funding in October 2024 to accelerate development of the automated cultivation technology.

The vision extends far beyond Japan’s borders. NEXTAGE’s ambitious slogan, “bringing ALL JAPAN MADE plant cultivation technology to the world,” signals plans to export this innovation globally. For high-end sushi restaurants that have long depended on limited supplies of fresh wasabi, the implications are transformative. The day may soon come when chefs grate wasabi grown in a container just blocks away, preserving the pungent, complex flavors that define authentic Japanese cuisine while building resilience into a supply chain threatened by our changing climate.

The post Japanese Startup Brings Wasabi Farming to Shipping Containers first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Australian Soy Fish Decomposes in 6 Weeks, Not 400 Years

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As someone who can demolish a sushi platter in minutes, I’ve always felt a pang of guilt watching those tiny plastic fish pile up on my plate. Sustainable design studio Heliograf clearly felt the same way. After five years of development, they’ve launched Holy Carp!, the world’s first home compostable soy sauce dropper that doesn’t make you choose between convenience and conscience.

The Australian team initially drew attention to this plastic problem through their brilliant Light Soy lamps made from recycled ocean-bound plastic. But they didn’t stop there. With South Australia banning those beloved little fish and other states following suit, Heliograf knew they had to create something that worked just as well. Consider this: since 1950, we’ve used between 8 and 12 billion soy fish. Each one serves us for maybe three minutes before hanging around for centuries.

Designer: Heliograf

Bagasse Pulp Meets Familiar Function

Here’s where it gets clever. Holy Carp! droppers are made from bagasse pulp—basically sugarcane waste that would otherwise be thrown away. The genius part is that these decompose in your compost bin within 4-6 weeks, not 400 years. Plus, restaurants fill them fresh instead of getting pre-filled plastic ones shipped from who-knows-where, meaning fresher soy sauce for your salmon rolls.

Working with Vert Design and actual sushi restaurants (people who understand the stakes), Heliograf kept that perfect fish shape we all love while fixing the obvious problems. The 12mL container is deliberately bigger than those frustratingly tiny plastic ones because, let’s be honest, who hasn’t grabbed three or four at once? The designers watched people do exactly that, creating even more waste.

Plant Pulp Expertise Meets Ocean Impact

What I love about this story is how Heliograf used knowledge from their existing lamp packaging to crack this problem. Sometimes the best solutions come from your own backyard—literally, in this case, since their lamps already use plastic-free packaging. The droppers hold soy sauce safely for 48 hours and won’t leak all over your takeaway bag.

“It’s a small change, but we truly believe every drop matters,” says co-founder Angus Ware. “We wanted to show that we can still create moments of joy when being sustainable.” Since 2020, their cleanup efforts have removed over 32 tonnes of plastic—equivalent to 32 million soy fish.

Available Soon for Early Adopters

The numbers are staggering: 40% of plastic waste comes from packaging, with nearly 855 billion single-use sachets used annually. For those of us who can’t imagine sushi without that perfect little fish, Holy Carp! offers guilt-free indulgence. Restaurants can register at heliograf.com/holycarp for early access. Finally, we can enjoy our California rolls without contributing to microplastic soup in our oceans.

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A Living Sphere: Japan’s Self-Contained Food Ecosystem Points to Urban Agriculture’s Future

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Perched at the Osaka Health Pavilion during Expo 2025, a translucent dome hums with life. Inside, tomatoes ripen above brackish water while pufferfish swim below, their waste feeding the plants that clean their home. This is “Inochi no Izumi,” or “Source of Life,” a 21-foot-high sphere that reimagines how cities might feed themselves. The dome’s genius lies in its vertical arrangement. Four water compartments form the base: seawater, brackish water, and two freshwater tanks. Each supports aquatic species matched to its salinity, from marine groupers to freshwater sturgeon. Above each tank rises a corresponding tier of hydroponic crops, creating four parallel ecosystems stacked inside a single structure.

The nutrient cycle starts underwater. Fish excrete ammonia-rich waste that specialized microbes convert into nitrites, then nitrates. Pumps lift this nutrient-loaded water to feed the plants directly overhead. As roots absorb nitrogen compounds, they return purified water to the tanks below. Nothing leaves the system. Nature’s wetland cycling becomes an engine for food production. The broader the range of compatible species, the more resilient and self-sufficient the ecosystem becomes. That diversity mirrors natural systems but remains optimized for human consumption.

Designer: VikingDome, Osaka Metropolitan University’s Plant Factory R&D Center & Tokyo University of Marine Science & Technology

Each layer hosts plants suited to its water source. Salt-tolerant halophytes like sea asparagus and sea purslane grow above the seawater tank housing red seabream and black porgy. Sea grapes flourish in the saltwater itself. Move up a tier, and semi-tolerant tomatoes thrive on brackish water where Japanese pufferfish and ornamental carp glide. The freshwater zones support functional vegetables—nutrient-dense herbs and lettuces—while edible flowers, including nasturtium and marigold crown the top tier, their beds rotating via built-in motors to optimize light exposure.

The dome’s outer skin consists of transparent ETFE panels stretched across 245 steel structural bars connected by 76 joints. This geodesic framework, built using VikingDome’s T-STAR system, covers 1,378 square feet while weighing just over two tons. The entire structure arrived at Yumeshima Island on three pallets. Its design maximizes sunlight penetration while maintaining stable internal temperatures, creating a microclimate where multiple growing zones coexist.

Developed with Osaka Metropolitan University’s Plant Factory R&D Center and Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, this system demonstrates agricultural biodiversity at work. The practical applications extend beyond exhibition. Dense urban centers with limited ground space could host these modular systems on rooftops or in narrow lots. Land-poor regions where traditional farming struggles could gain food independence. Disaster-prone areas might deploy closed-loop domes for decentralized production unaffected by soil contamination or water scarcity.

What makes Source of Life compelling isn’t revolutionary technology. The core principle—aquaponics—has existed for decades. Rather, it’s the elegant integration of ecological understanding with space-efficient design. Commercial agriculture often chases yield through inputs: fertilizers, pesticides, energy. This dome inverts that logic, asking what happens when we design with nature’s cycles instead of against them. As cities grow and climate pressures mount, feeding urban populations sustainably demands fresh thinking. This geodesic greenhouse suggests one path forward: upward, inward, and circular.

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This Studio Grows Coffee Cups From Gourds

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Picture this: instead of manufacturing your next coffee cup, what if you could just grow it? That’s the beautifully simple yet radical idea behind The Gourd Project, an ongoing exploration by Brooklyn-based CRÈME Architecture and Design that’s turning heads in the sustainable design world.

Here’s the problem they’re tackling. Back in 2006, Starbucks alone used 2.6 billion cups at their stores. Each paper cup produces 0.24 pounds of CO2 emissions during manufacturing, and here’s the kicker: only 0.25% actually get recycled after disposal. We’ve been stuck in this wasteful cycle for decades, bouncing between plastic, paper, and ceramic options that all come with their own environmental baggage. CRÈME decided to ask a different question entirely: what if nature didn’t just provide the material, but also handled the manufacturing process?

Designer: CRÈME Architecture and Design

Enter the humble gourd. These fast-growing plants have been cultivated by humans for thousands of years, prized for their robust fruits that develop strong outer skins and fibrous inner flesh. Once dried, gourds become naturally watertight, which is why our ancestors used them as cups and containers long before Tupperware was a thing. CRÈME, led by designer Jun Aizaki, looked at this ancient practice and thought: we can do something with this.

But here’s where it gets really cool. The studio isn’t just hollowing out gourds and calling it a day. They’re using 3D-printed molds to actually shape the gourds as they grow, training them into specific forms like cups and flasks. Think of it as botanical architecture. You place the mold around the young fruit, and nature does the rest, filling the shape while it grows on the vine. The result? Vessels that are 100% biodegradable, manufactured using only sun and water, and look genuinely striking sitting on your shelf.

The project started small, with a few gourds grown in a backyard. But CRÈME has since scaled up production to a farm, with plans to eventually move operations indoors to better control for variables like pests and weather conditions. The entire production cycle currently takes about six weeks, and while the team is working to streamline that timeline, it’s still remarkably efficient compared to traditional manufacturing processes that involve mining, refining, molding, and shipping materials around the globe.

Each gourd vessel can be reused between three to six times before it starts to break down. At that point, you’re not adding to a landfill or hoping it makes it to a recycling facility. You just toss it in with your food waste and let it compost naturally. It’s a genuine cradle-to-cradle approach, where the end of one cup’s life becomes the beginning of nutrients for the next season’s growth.

The design world has noticed. The Gourd Project earned a finalist mention at the NYCxDesign awards and has been featured in major publications like Dezeen, Fast Company, and NowThis News. It’s easy to see why. In an era where greenwashing is rampant and “sustainable” often just means “slightly less terrible,” here’s a project that actually reimagines the entire system from the ground up, literally.

What makes this particularly exciting is how it challenges our assumptions about design and manufacturing. We’re so conditioned to think of products as things we make, things we control from start to finish in factories. The Gourd Project flips that script. It asks us to collaborate with nature, to work with biological processes instead of against them. The designers provide the framework, the blueprint. The plant does the actual building.

Will we all be sipping our lattes from gourds next year? Probably not. CRÈME is still refining the process and working toward a consumer launch. But that’s almost beside the point. The Gourd Project proves that radical sustainability doesn’t have to mean sacrifice or hairshirt aesthetics. These vessels are genuinely beautiful, with organic variations that make each one unique. They represent a fundamentally different way of thinking about the objects we use every day.

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This Whale Bed Goes From Bedroom to Poolside in Seconds

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There’s something absolutely magical about furniture that makes you do a double take, and the Whale Bed by designers Zeng Haojie and Chen Zhe is exactly that kind of piece. At first glance, you might wonder if you’re looking at a luxurious lounger or an art installation, but this Red Dot Award-winning design is actually both and so much more.

Picture this: a bed that looks like a gentle whale gliding through calm waters, complete with fin-like panels extending from both sides. It’s the kind of piece that makes you want to immediately redesign your entire space around it. But beyond its striking ocean-inspired silhouette, the Whale Bed represents something we desperately need more of in the design world: thoughtful innovation that doesn’t sacrifice style for sustainability.

Designers: Zeng Haojie, Chen Zhe

What makes this design so clever is how it manages to pack multiple functions into one sleek package without going overboard on materials. The adjustable backrest is a game changer, letting you shift between different positions whether you’re reading, scrolling through your phone, or settling in for a Netflix marathon. It’s like having a bed, a lounge chair, and a reading nook all wrapped into one streamlined piece.

Those fin-like panels aren’t just there to complete the whale aesthetic (though they absolutely nail that vibe). They serve as practical side extensions that give you extra surface area for whatever you need. Morning coffee? Check. Favorite book? Done. Laptop for those work-from-anywhere days? You got it. It’s the kind of multipurpose thinking that makes small spaces feel more livable and large spaces feel more intentional.

But here’s where things get really interesting. The Whale Bed is crafted from environmentally friendly plant fiber material, which means you can take this beauty from your bedroom to your backyard without worrying about weather damage or environmental impact. Imagine lounging poolside on this stunning piece, or creating an outdoor sanctuary in your courtyard where the lines between indoor comfort and outdoor freedom completely blur. We’re now increasingly conscious about our carbon footprint and the lifecycle of the products we bring into our homes so the Whale Bed’s approach to reducing material consumption is refreshing. The designers didn’t just slap an eco-friendly label on it and call it a day. They actually reimagined the structure itself to minimize waste during production. That’s the kind of innovation that moves the industry forward.

The color shown in the images, a sophisticated ocean blue, feels like an obvious choice that somehow still surprises. It’s calming without being boring, bold without being overwhelming. You can easily imagine it working in a minimalist Scandinavian-inspired bedroom, a boho outdoor oasis, or even a contemporary loft space. That versatility is part of what makes this design so compelling. What really strikes me about the Whale Bed is how it challenges our assumptions about what furniture should be. We’re so used to pieces being designated for one specific room or purpose. A bed stays in the bedroom. Patio furniture stays outside. But why? The Whale Bed asks us to think differently about how we use our spaces and how our furniture can adapt to our lives rather than the other way around.

There’s also something wonderfully playful about the whole concept. In a design landscape that can sometimes take itself too seriously, a bed inspired by the largest creatures in our oceans brings a sense of wonder and whimsy. It reminds us that sustainable design doesn’t have to be austere or preachy. It can be joyful, imaginative, and utterly desirable. For anyone who’s been watching the intersection of sustainability and design, pieces like the Whale Bed represent where we’re headed. It’s not about choosing between beautiful design and environmental responsibility anymore. The best designers are proving we can have both, and they’re doing it with creativity and innovation that makes us excited about the future of our living spaces.

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Shantivale Incense: 5 Plant-Based Blends Mapped to Times of Day

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Home scent has spent the last decade in candles and diffusers, often leaning on synthetic fragrance oils and heavy perfume notes that fill a room fast and fade faster. There’s a quiet shift back toward incense now, especially the kind made from ingredients rather than lab blends. Shantivale is a botanical incense brand from Shangri-La, Yunnan, that treats incense as a small architectural gesture instead of a perfumed cloud you spray and forget about.

Shantivale’s core idea is plant-born smoke, not perfume. Each stick is made from ground woods, herbs, and resins, held together with a traditional plant-based binder made from glutinous rice root and Debregeasia orientalis bark. Because even the binder is plant fibre and starch rather than chemical adhesive, the ember burns at a lower, steadier temperature, producing a fine, soft plume instead of thick smoke with sharp edges.

Designer: Shantivale

The sustainability side is straightforward. There are no synthetic fragrance oils or dyes, which means less petrochemical load and less residue floating in the air. The plant-based binder is locally crafted, supporting regional knowledge and reducing reliance on industrial adhesives. The burn is low-smoke, even, and gentle, where the air reads as plants rather than lab-bright perfume. It’s less about masking a space and more about restoring its tone, letting a room feel more like itself.

The blends are informed by classical Chinese herb pairing logic, treated as heritage and craft rather than medicine. Cinnamon twig, dryopteris, artemisia, sandalwood, agarwood, poria, ziziphus seed, and polygala root are culturally associated with warmth, clarity, inward calm, and rest. These references explain why the blends behave like distinct states, such as clarity, focus, warmth, and rest, rather than the usual top-heart-base perfume pyramids you get from synthetic candles trying to smell like fifteen different things at once.

The Tranquil Fivefold kit maps five blends to different moments of the day. Purity Veil behaves like a herbal reset after cooking or between tasks. Dharma Rain is a cooler, contemplative blend for study and focused work. Zen Flow leans warm and inward for meditation or gentle yoga. Cliff Glow is a single-wood cypress stick for rainy windows and unhurried afternoons. Sereni Sleep marks the evening’s descent with grain-warm hush, close and non-intrusive.

The packaging follows the same restraint. The sticks come in slim boxes wrapped in Xuan paper, echoing Chinese calligraphy and the contemplative flow of ink. Each blend has a bilingual name and a short scent verse, more field guide than vanity jar. The kit includes a carved stone holder inspired by mani stone mounds in the Tibetan highlands, a smooth river stone with a drilled hole that quietly marks faith, time, and the path of smoke.

One stick burns for about forty minutes, long enough to bracket a work sprint, a chapter, or an evening wind-down. You light it, fan out the flame, and let it smoulder. The stick ends itself, and the after-feel lingers. In days that blur together, that small ceremony gives minutes a border and offers a natural signal that re-tunes the room’s field to something more breathable and human.

Shantivale is a simple argument: plant-born smoke, cultural pairing, and a small ritual that turns ordinary transitions into moments that feel distinct. For anyone building a signature mood at home or looking for something thoughtful to gift this season, the Tranquil Fivefold kit is worth picking up. Whether for yourself or someone who could use a quieter kind of scent, it’s an object that lingers long after any wrapping paper.

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This 3D-Printed Modular Power Strip Is Made From Recycled Plastic

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Carefully curated desks always have one ugly secret hiding underneath them. Power strips are black plastic bricks with tangled cables, even in the most beautifully designed workspaces. You need the outlets and USB ports, but nobody wants to look at the usual tangle of cords and generic housings. The bFRIENDS Power Module treats power access as something that deserves the same design attention as pen cups and storage trays.

The bFRIENDS Power Module is a family of 3D-printed desk power hubs designed by Pearson Lloyd for Bene. It’s part of the broader bFRIENDS collection, which uses recycled bioplastic and additive manufacturing to create desk accessories. That same language now extends into sockets and USB chargers, turning a power strip into a small, modular object that sits proudly on the desk instead of hiding on the floor or under a cable tray.

Designer: Pearson Lloyd for bene

The basic form is a low, rounded tray with one or two ribbed cylinders that dock into it. The cylinders hold either a mains socket or a USB charger, while the tray doubles as a shallow organizer. Module S offers a single power point in a compact footprint. Module M adds one cylinder plus a shelf for pens and small items. Module L fits two cylinders and a wider storage area for more devices and desk clutter.

The modules are designed to be modular beyond their size. The cylinders can be specified with different country sockets or USB chargers, and the threaded sub-assembly simplifies swapping them out. Colour is also part of the system. The tray, cylinder body, and top insert can be mixed from the full bFRIENDS palette, so you can match brand colours, interior schemes, or other accessories instead of defaulting to anonymous black plastic.

The Power Module uses the same recycled bioplastic as the rest of bFRIENDS, sourced from food packaging waste diverted from landfill. Pieces are 3D-printed locally on demand, which eliminates injection-mould tooling and reduces warehousing and transport. That agile manufacturing approach makes it easier to offer many colour combinations and evolve the range without the usual constraints of mass production and minimum order quantities.

The combinations and uses are practically endless. For example, a Module M or L can rest against a fabric privacy panel, with the tray holding a phone and stationery while the cylinder powers a monitor or laptop. By bringing sockets and USB up onto the desk, the module makes plugging in less of a reach and turns cable management into part of the overall desk composition rather than an afterthought you hide under a grommet.

The bFRIENDS Power Module shows what happens when designers look at the boring parts of the office. By combining power, storage, recycled materials, and colour in a single object, it makes the everyday act of plugging in feel a bit more considered. It’s not trying to reinvent electricity, just the way it shows up on your desk, turning something functional into something you might actually want visible in your workspace.

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