Livia Rossi and Gianluca Giabardo – the pair behind Italian design studio Dossofiorito [literally “flowery hill”] – do not only design for humans, but for plants too. Attentive to the quiet green world around them, over the years they explored the connectivity and bounds that can grow between people and houseplants. Eager to share their passion they agreed on replying to some questions by Laura Drouet.
The Phytophiler by Dossofiorito
How would you describe your relationship with plants? We consider the plants that share our house, balcony and studio, along with Aru our dog, as part of the family. We speak to them and grow really attached to them.
The Phytophiler by Dossofiorito
Your work ranges from collectible design to more interactive projects encouraging for instance children’s participation and creativity, yet, your recurrent incline for plants constitutes a peculiar and interesting red thread. Where does this passion comes from? Our interest for plants comes a long way. Although we both grew up in urban surroundings, we also had the opportunity as children to be very much in touch with Nature. But we never realised how deep our interest in plants was until they became – almost by accident – asubject to explore in our projects. When we saw that we got many plant specimens (maybe too many!), we started questioning our attitude and this profound need of being surrounded by plants. It occurred to us that it might be interesting and relevant to do a project on the bound that a person can develop with the houseplants sharing his/her living environment.
The Phytophiler by Dossofiorito
According to French botanist Francis Hallé, plants are too often forgotten and rarely seen as living being simply because they are biologically too far from humans. Many of your project such as The Phytophiler collection provides the user with a set to study and interact with the plant itself using human’s senses such as touch and view. According to you, why is learning to understand the kingdom Plantae so vital? Recent scientific researches have proven that plants can move, communicate, react to external stimulus, even have memories of past experiences! This new awareness necessarily brought about a new and more respectful attitude towards them. Our Phytophiler projects simply go in that direction: they are not do-it-all tools – they don’t water for you, they don’t feed the plants for you – because we wanted to bring people closer and make them more engaged with the plants.
Epiphytes by Dossofiorito
Epiphytes by Dossofiorito
Knowledge and recognition constitute the base of your Epiphytes project as it respect the air-plants metabolism. What inspired you for this project? While conducting researches on plants for The Phytophiler, we learned about epiphytes (plants that do not grow in the soil but on another plant or tree in the wild). We were astonished to discover that many of the plants that are grown as houseplants belong to this category – 70% of known orchids, a third of the ferns, and even some cacti are epiphytes. The Epiphytes vase follows the natural growing attitudes of a plant. What inspired us this project were the ollas (terracota container used for centuries in vegetable gardens) but also the cultivation methods of orchids in tropical countries where the plants are grown on the outside surface of terracotta pots resting in trays filled with water.
ETTA, a multi-layer wood bench / room divider design by Dossofiorito
How do you see your role as product designers when it comes to plants? In our designs we try to be attentive to the materials we use and enjoy to work with small scale producers, with a direct control of the production. We believe that the bottom line of many of our plants projects is the idea that plants are not just a decorative element. None of our projects are for immediate fruition but suggest more that people are embarking on a long term commitment with each specimen. It is just with time and care that we’ll enjoy the most the presence of the plant.
The Phytophiler by DossofioritoThe Phytophiler by Dossofiorito
Interview by Laura Drouet, photography via Dossofiorito (Zilio A&C / Matevz Paternoster, Federico Villa, Omar Nadalini)
See why and start something bright! OSRAM Opto Semiconductors – despite the very techy name – provide a rather simple solution to solve the aforementioned challenge! They offer special LEDs for horticultural lighting which will provide optimal growing conditions for your plants – whether they suffer of a lack of light due to the season or …
Currently the autumn days here in Europe are truly glorious. But we are not only enjoying the sunshine outdoors, we are also prepping our plants for the upcoming colder and certainly darker autumn and winter days. Why? Because light is a crucial factor to keep your plants thriving and happy especially during the colder and gloomier season. But how can we assure our plants get sufficient light to stay happy and not suffer of a lack of light? This question requires both, the plant geek and the tech geek in you. See why and start something bright!
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors – despite the very techy name – provide a rather simple solution to solve the aforementioned challenge! They offer special LEDs for horticultural lighting which will provide optimal growing conditions for your plants – whether they suffer of a lack of light due to the season or whether they are placed in a room without a window. They provide the special LEDs which are then part of luminaires offered by other brands. Now you might wonder: Why is it pink light? Let us have a look at that too.
The pink light is something that we perceive with our human eye. In fact it is a mix of different ratios of wavelenghts between deep blue, hyper red and far red providing the right mix of wavelengths to stimulate photosynthesis. OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is a highly experienced company when it comes to LED solution. Their expertise stems from years and years of experience in various business fields, among them horticulture. As a big player they think of solutions for growing food on larger scale, urban farming, and other aspects of horticulture. But their solutions are equally practical and available for the small-scale urban jungle fan through buying luminaires that include their LEDs. Growing plants at home requires adequate light too after all.
But we do not want to just talk about facts here. We actually received one set of horticultural lights equipped with OSRAM OS LEDs to test ourselves. Judith installed the light fixture in her home and provides her plants with an extra dosis of light for growth. Now we don’t have any long-term results yet, but it looks promising. A not so bad side effect is the light show you get – a warm and cosy pink glow in your plant corner!
The various LEDs not only foster a good photosynthesis of your plants, they also assure an even growth in height and width. Think of certain succulents during wintertime or when placed in darker corners – what happens to them? They stretch out towards the light. They become wonky, long, with bigger gaps bewtween the leaves. To avoid such growing peculiarities you need to provide optimal light – be it natural or artificial if needed. For this (among other reasons) the OSRAM Opto Semiconductors LEDs are ideal.
Neoprene cachepot by Pijama
This lighting fixture is not something you’ll find right now in a shop. In fact it is a development kit that we got for a first test. Horticulture luminaires for home use are just starting to be offered on the market – this may increase as more plant enthusiasts like us want to use them indoors. As a highly professional technical device it is meant to perform in the best way possible and assure the plants are thriving. Whether you place the lighting fixture as a hanging solution or just next to the plants on a sideboard – it is up to you. You can also think of decorative ways of camouflaging the LED box given that the light is unobstructed and disperses evenly. And frankly: This kind of solution makes us really feel like top-notch plant geeks! Go the extra mile for your plants’ happiness and start something bright – with the new horticultural lighting by OSRAM Opto Semiconductors.
This blogpost has been brought to you in collaboration with OSRAM Opto Semiconductors. As always all opinions and photos are our own. Thank you for supporting the brands who support this blog!
We are just back from this year’s Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Dutch design is outstanding and well known across the globe. So it is safe to say that the Netherlands have a certain design DNA similar to their northern neighbours in Scandinavia. Yet, Dutch design is standing out with its unique mix of cool, contemporary, playful, and experimental all at the same time. To get a better understanding and discover the latest green trends from Holland, we set off to a design weekend with a bunch of 15 European design bloggers. Buckle up, here we go!
Our first stop was something like the cell of Dutch design – the breeding ground for young design talents, the Design Academy Eindhoven. Bachelor and master students presented their works on several levels and many of the results floated somewhere between product design, art, and installation. Think of lots of conceptual work with a story behind. We didn’t spot anything particularly green, but you can see some of Judith’s favorites on her blog JOELIX.com.
Another highlight of our design tour was the headquarters of Dutch design icon Piet Hein Eek. The philosophy of Piet Hein Eek to avoid any waste and to recycle and repurpose materials resonates with our understanding of a green and sustainable life. No wonder that the showroom and shop was packed with plants! And the plants seemed to perfectly act as a backdrop for beautiful design pieces like the famous Scrapwood dining tables, repurposed wooden benches for a green patio, as well as lamps and home accessories made of natural materials. Here again, it was more the green context that caught our eye than any specific green design. But the Piet Hein Eek headquarters hosted also several levels of exhibitors, among them young design labels with very cool green designs. Let’s have a look.
Oh before we head to the next design spot, let’s have a coffee break, right? Let’s pick a spot with nice plants – we found this one and loved it big time: Onder de Leidingstraat is a über-cool deli and café in the hip Strijp area.
One of our personal highlights was the work of the yound Dutch design label Spruitje. Igor actually owns one of their first designs – a terrarium lamp in his home, you can see it on Happy Interior Blog. Their latest design is a fantastic propagation lamp with a wooden base, a brass switch, and a sleek glass tube. The lamp has an integrated LED lamp in the base so that the glass tube is illuminated from the bottom. This helps your cuttings to root quicker and look even more stylish in your home. Don’t you agree?!
In the same area we spotted a few more green design highlights. The folks of House of Thol presented their designs, among them their self-watering solution Waterworks. This device is also mentioned in our Urban Jungle book as a solution for easy plant watering. It is not only practical though, it also looks pretty ace: a combination of glass, partly glazed terra-cotta, and a cork stopper.
More green findings: How about a giant glass terrarium? If you have a humongous Bonsai or any other terrarium plant, opt for the giant terrarium called Terra by Sanne Weekers. Pretty impressive!
Ok it is time for another break! We need lunch. So let’s pick a restaurant worth an Urban Jungle Bloggers visit! How about these two options: Kazerne is a very cool and urban space set in a vast hall that combines both, a restaurant and exhibition space. We liked the food of course but we LOVED the plants set in crates and on the counters adding a wild touch to the industrial space.
Another lush spot in town is Stories Eindhoven. Just look at the following picture – do we need to add more words to it? The hanging cacti (Lepismium and Rhipsalis) are just stunning in this restaurant! Definitely a show stopper!
Let’s continue with green design now. We had a little green love affair with the new shelving units by Rotterdam based designer Femke de Witte of Nord Interior Design. Her plant shelf is a perfect addition to any urban jungle offering plenty of space for all kinds of houseplants or even herbs when placed in a kitchen. The contemporary look is accentuated by clean lines and the use of pure plywood and steel.
Another fabulous design from Nord Interior Design is the room divider slash shelving unit. With its organic arch shape it recalls the roaring 1920s, yet its overall look and feel is very contemporary. This was presented as a first prototype but we see a lot of potential for this one, don’t you think so? Eventually the three parts will be connected and this divider will come in handy to separate ares in open space interiors or small homes. Thumbs up!
Studio Carolijn Slottje was also present at the Dutch Design Week. Besides her well known floating air plant medusae, she presented her new Garden Quilt project. It is a creative way to add a green wall – whether in small for a home or as a larger installation for public places.
We hope you enjoyed the little green design tour brought to you from Eindhoven in Holland. The Dutch Design Week tour was organized by our fellow bloggers and friends Holly Becker of decor8 and Desiree Groenendal of Vosgesparis. Thank you both for a fabulous weekend!
What the Flower! A brand new planty location has opened in Paris! Our friend Justine from Sweety Oxalis told us a while ago that she was working on a secret project: a new place where she would combine her love for plants and her job as a hairdresser. She found her ideal location in the 11th district in Paris and worked the entire summer with her team to open their new plant shop and hair salon. We followed sneak peeks on Instagram and saw a giant mirror being hoisted into the space, which made us even more curious of what it would look like. Justine teamed up with aKagreen, an online boutique for plants, and their beautiful space is now open for everyone. Join us for a virtual visit of What the Flower!
If you follow Justine on Instagram you know she loves her plants: Pilea, Monstera, Alocasia and Oxalis… as you can see: all of these are well presented at What the Flower. Two old Monstera deliciosa are the stars of the space and shine with their mature leaves that have a beautiful hole pattern. These two beauties are not for sale, but can be rented for special events. What we love at What the Flower is that you see the “plant preference” and personality of its owner so well. In Paris we’ve seen quite a few new botanical shops open their doors this year (which we listed in our French #urbanjunglebook by the way!) and they all have a completely different personality, audience and price range. We believe there is room for everyone, as long as true passion is involved. Which is clearly the case at What the Flower!
But What the Flower is not only about plants, it is also a real hair salon! The huge mirrors that were installed this summer reflect the light and visuallyy double the amount of plants you can see. And of course they reflect your “new hair” once Justine has done her magic! Justine has been a hairdresser for a over a decade and as a plant lover, she was so fed up with all the chemicals that are typically used to treat and color hair, that she started using more and more natural dies and products. For What the Flower she chose The Hairborist, a bio hair wellness brand that uses 100% natural colors derived from plants, flowers and bark. When we visited, a client just left with a fresh new look for her hair and the color looked amazing, natural glowing and healthy. Well done Justine!
Jungle reflection in the mirror:
As an extra touch of decoration, Justine decided to show off some of the hair care products, especially the ones in powder, that she beautifully lined up in Mason Jars behind the counter. Why hide these organic products when their colors fits the natural color concept of the shop so well?
The massage chair and backwash unit (and Monstera carpet) and the growing botanical curtains in front of the window:
In the second part of the shop, you can find the workshop and office of aKagreen, an online boutique for lush tropical plants, that are promoted by their cute Shiba Inu mascot aKa. Together with Sabrina and James, the team behind aKagreen, aKa selects the prettiest easy-to-care-for plants that you can order online for your home, shop or office. Delivered by bike or electric car in Paris, and in the rest of France by delivery service. All plants come with personalised care tips to keep them happy and healthy.
And where does aKagreen keep their stock of plants? At their neighbors: startup hub Le Wagon! Students, teachers and co-workers get their jobs done in a true urban jungle office with huge banana trees and ZZ plants. Tons of lush Sansevieria, ponytail palms and Calathea are lined up between office desks and computer screens. They purify the air while people code news apps and software. And it makes the industrial loft look so much better at the same time. Win-win for everyone! We hope more plant businesses will follow this clever example! Oh and if you’re worried about the plants being “destroyed” by people working here? Of course there are casualties sometimes, but everyone is rather respectful. James told us that placing all the plants together in groups (#plantgang alert!) really helps preserving the plants. And it makes plant care and watering so much easier too!
Don’t you wanna work here?
Next time you’re in Paris, make sure to make a stop at What the Flower for some plant shopping. Or book an appointment to get your hair done!
Some cats are not interested in plants at all and can be left alone in a room with toxic plants without any problems, but if you’re the parent of a furry feline that loves to nibble on fresh plant leaves, make sure to avoid these plants:
Cat Billie Jean served by @botanicalsandbillie
Did you hear that plantlady is the new catlady? Sounds funny, right? But actually, we believe that you can be both! (and pssstttt, we also believe that there are also quite a few crazy plantmen out there!). With the right tips & tricks you can live successfully with both plants and cats. But how? Every time we share a photo on our Instagram accountof a home with houseplants and one or more cats, we receive so many questions about it. How do people make sure the cats don’t destroy the plants and how do you know if plants are toxic to cats? We decided to ask some help from our fellow plantlovers and catlovers on Instagram. So here we go!
Some background info about our Instagram Panel of 31 plant & cat lovers:
They come from all around the world: different states in the US, Sweden, Hungary, Spain, Holland, Brazil, France, Germany, Turkey, Canada, Belgium, Indonesia and Denmark. 35% of them own between 16 and 40 plants, 35% between 41 and 75 plants and 20% have more than 100 plants! Half of the respondents has 1 cat and most of the others have 2 cats (one even has 5 cats). More than half of the respondents have cats that check out the plants every now and then but mostly leave them alone. 35% Have a cat that is obsessed with some specific plants and likes to nibble on the leaves. Two respondents have true plant destroying cats.
Cat Yuki served by @aentschie
TOXIC PLANTS
Never assume that cats instinctively know what plants are toxic for them. Our cats are domesticated animals and knowing what is good or bad for them is not necessarily part of their experience. Some cats are not interested in plants at all and can be left alone in a room with toxic plants without any problems, but if you’re the parent of a furry feline that loves to nibble on fresh plant leaves, make sure to avoid these plants:
• Sago Palm and other Cycads • Any bulb plants, like Lillies, Hyacinth, Daffodil, Amaryllis • Asparagus fern • Dieffenbachia • Oxalis triangularis • Azalea • Dracaena • Aloe • Sansevieria • Anthurium • Monstera deliciosa
This list is not complete and please always check if your plants are toxic! Also note, that for most plants your cat would have to ingest a substantial amount to become ill.
25% of the cats from our Instagram Panel once ate a toxic plant. For most of them nothing happened (fortunately!), but most cats did throw up the ingested leaves. Sad stories of cats eating plants and dying do exist (we receive messages about that very often), so be careful. Better be safe than sorry!
Cat Bodhi served by @callieharrisonn
CAT-SAFE PLANTS
Plants recommended by the plant- and catlovers from our panel: • Spiderplant • Hanging plants (out of reach, if your cat can reach it, they are attractive because of the movement) • Kentia palms (some cats love to eat juicy sweet palm leaves, which destroys them) • Olive trees • Cacti (although they can hurt the cats with their spines!) • Echeveria and Haworthia succulents • Zamioculca • Peperomia (the cats don’t like the taste!) • Ferns • Calathea • Tillandsia air plants • Grasses • Strelitzia (mildly toxic) • Plants with big leaves (less tempting) • Staghorn ferns (can be mounted and hung out of reach) • Lemongrass • Maranta
Cat Bowie served by @katinkafeijs
SUCCESS TIPS
We asked our Instagram Panel about their tips on how to live successfully with plants and cats. These are their best tips and tricks:
• Start with plants that are non toxic to cats and observe how your cats behave with them. Make certain rooms off limits to the cats to keep more toxic plants. • Put your plants in a place where the cats can’t reach them, for example on a fridge or plantshelfie. Or in a room that you can close when you are not around to watch your cat’s behavior. • Use plant hangers to hang plants from the ceiling where your cats can’t reach it. Or use wall-pots (only works if your cats are not too acrobatic!) • Make sure if you put a plant up high, that there is no way for your cat to jump up there. No empty space for your cat on the #plantshelfie or he or she may tip over a planter. • Use plant pots that have enough weight, so that your cat can’t tip them over. • If my cat was more of a curious taste tester I would suggest putting the plants on higher shelving with no snuggle room for cats. Make another perch spot, as I like to call them, for your kitty so they’ll still feel like they own the house instead of you. • Teach them when young not to bother them! Behold the power of a spray bottle. • Find an essential oil scent that your cat hates. Most cats dislike citrus. Place a citrus essential oil around the area where you keep your plants, or on each individual pot. This should deter your cat from wanting to play with, eat, or otherwise destroy your plants. • Give your feline friends their own cat grass, catnip, edible foliage or wheat grass! Place this close to your (non toxic) plants at ground level, so that they have easy access (before they reach your expensive houseplants). • Prune growing plants regularly so they don’t get too long and turn into play toys for your cats. • Keep your more delicate plants inside a terrarium. • I keep my plants that I’m propagating in water safe for her too, otherwise she will take the plant out of the water so she can drink it! • I also try not to leave any water on my plant trays because my cat loves to play with water. • Play with your cats and tire them out. A happy and tired cat will leave your plants alone. • Cut chicken wire and lay it flat on top of the soil. This will prevent your cat from digging up the soil and making a huge mess or using it as a litter box. You can also use some larger stones or gems to (partly) cover the soil. • Provide a clean litter box and a nice scratching pole, so that they have everything they need and doesn’t use your plants as a litter box or pole. • Accept that your cats will nibble on (some of) your houseplants and that they won’t look its best with some cat scars. Learn to live with your imperfect plants. After all, it’s your cat’s home too!
“I find that larger leaf plants, like the fiddle leaf are good because they are too large for a cat to really care for. Some plants are good for cats! I actually have an indoor herb garden for them to chew on. It’s good for their digestive systems!”
Cat Ramona served by @plantshapescat Wally served by @joelixjoelix
“I was home from work for hours, relaxing, hanging out with my cat when suddenly her ears perk up and we both hear a rustling in my plant collection in the living room. Somehow the neighbour’s cat had gotten in before I went to work and had been hanging out in my plants for hours without us knowing! You never know what’s lurking in the jungle.”
cat Curry served by @casaprotea
“Sometimes my cats really just like to snif and go through the leafs. I have also had some cat grass and other plants that’s good for the cats to eat from. It’s in the cat’s nature to be outside and wild so I try to have plants and pine cones, to trigger their nature side.”
cat Witte Poes served by @line_vanvoorden
“Whenever I bring a new plant home, which happens quite regularly, my cat looks at it for a bit, and then looks at me, as if to say “Really? Another one?”“
Cat served by @frozentezzzCat Fia served by @fryfold
“I put the cat grass in front of a mirror. My cat usually puts his whole head in the plant to show his love and affection, but once scared himself to death when he saw a cat emerging from his plant in the mirror! Poor thing!”
Cat Belle served by @ladradorite.boyCat Snow served by @pernillllllee
“At first we grew a cat lawn for our cat to eat the grass, therefore we didn’t think of the size of the low pot. One day when the grass was almost fully grown, we found him sleeping on it, and he sleeps there for a little while everyday! It was just hilarious to see him change the purpose of his gift.”
Cat Milo served by @avalonbotaniqueCat Archimedes served by @JulieAndrsn
*“My boy cat is quite a rebel. He love the “punch” the leaf on plants. He sits by the plant and with one paw he starts beating the leaf (forcing the leaf down), and he does this over and over and over and over until I get mad and take him away from the plant. He knows so well that I don’t like when he does that, he always makes eye contact when he starts beating. Lol.”
Cat Hanna served by @personalcheesusCat Fantastic Mr Fox served by @is_adorable
“I was so proud of my first ever Spider plant baby. It finally rooted after a couple of busted attempts. I put it in his own little pot. And the next morning I woke up with my cat Moos sitting above my head, who brought me a present. Yup! My baby spider plant. Ripped it right out of the pot and wrecked the roots with his teeth. Sigh*. Ever since then Moos loves to rip tiny plants out of the ground. So all of the baby plants are safely in an Ikea Socker greenhouse.”
Cat Moos served by @unieque_nlCats Tissla and Lilith served by @alexandra.broman
“Our cat Simba had a favorite spot for a long time, a pot with old soil in it. There used to be a Bromelia in there but he crushed it with his butt. We didn’t think to throw it out yet, and Simba kept his spot. After a long time my husband said to me, I think Simba is breeding something, we lifted his tail and a new Bromelia was coming up from the pot under his butt.”
Cat Simba served by @anne_kohnkeDog and cats Mowgli, Dilla and Cricket served by @jordoncloud
Photography by Urban Jungle Bloggers
