BioInspired: Plant Storage (Herbs)
Design is one of the most
crucial things that people can contribute in to society. Biomimetic/biomorphic
designing is another stage where design is influenced by things in ecosystem.
It gave me a glimpse in to the heart of ecosystem from the simplest to the
complex stages that are happening around it. In this project, I have
accomplished to design a Herb Storage mimicking some of the features and
characteristics of vines. It is inspiring how designers can change a simple old
form of storage into something quirky and exciting.
A vine is a plant with a
growth habit of trailing and sometimes it refers to as stem runners. It has
this delicate, exotic and exaggerated looks when it’s in the ground, walls or
anything that they can climb into. Being inspired by this plant, this herb
storage offers these characteristics. It is consists of three parts the base,
stand and the individual planter that can be assembled or disassembled for
storage purpose. In terms of the stand, it mimics how the vines grow in a way
that user can add more branches to meet their preferred height of the storage.
On the other hand, the individual planter mimics the leaves of the vines and
the spiralling effect of it. User can also add more planters to plant more
herbs to meet their needs. The shape of the planter is an exaggerated form of
vine leaves and its twisting form. The dark olive green and anodised grey
symbolised natures stability and delicateness.
Adaptability into different
domestic landscapes like apartments, condominiums and houses is not a problem.
It can be easily place into small to high density living which lands under
space saving storage category.
Made out of recycled plastics,
this herb storage gives an eco-friendly product. In terms of the recycled
plastic, heat compression is the process use to melt the collected plastics
which is relatively easy to perform. Three moulds are made for injection
moulding. The finish product is sprayed by a soy-based sealant so factors such
as sun’s UV rays and water are not a big problem. Furthermore, using a recycled
plastic as the primary material, the product then is durable and contained less
harmful materials that will affect the environment and humans. Reusing recycled
plastics can also be recycled again in the end of its product life span.
This Bio-inspired herb storage offers you
awareness towards health, environment and safety through its materials;
chemicals and processes used which comes from planning and designing of the
product. The product being biomimetically and biomorphically inspired and designed,
gives you an abstract, exotic and quirky appearance which is likable to many
users. It is adaptive into different trends of living particularly the
landscapes and the type of shelter. This product has the ability to add-more or
take-less with a stackable individual planter and stands to meet the user’s
needs. Using recycled plastics and required process gives a sense of
practicality and awareness towards design practice being able to utilise these
factors. The design of this product, being inspired of vines, has the nature’s
sustainable design principle which can benefit the community and the
environment. Marcel Wanders once said that ‘designing with nature has the
potential to inspire; to contribute to the concept of a world changing
opportunity but most importantly it is directed by the designer’s heart and
mind’.
