A Symbiosis Between Crops and Furnishings

Designer Gionato Gatto’s assortment, Coloniae, is a sequence of objects designed like dwellings inside a colony, their constructions conceived to work together symbiotically with crops. 

The objects are in all probability finest suited to air crops (Tillandsia) as they don’t seem to include vessels for both soil or water, however the concept is noteworthy.

A group of variously formed vases and a desk, Colonaie hosts the crops, permitting the plant roots and leaves to intertwine themselves with the assist construction to change into a single full unit. The desk is paying homage to French designer Frédéric Malphettes’s Floor which does double responsibility as each an indoor-outdoor modular desk system and a planter, or Norwegian designer Philipp von Hase’s seed formed “Plantable” a  desk with an built-in planter.

Unveiled at Milan Design Week 2022, Colonaie is a part of the design collective JCP Universe’s Different Lifeforms sequence, whose idea is to create artifacts that “change into life types of a system that creates relationships between its creators, customers and the setting itself.”

Like Hong Kong designer Francois Hurtaud’s mixture aquaponic planter system and lightweight fixture, a contemporary piece of indoor furnishings, the Colonaie items aren’t merely containers for crops however slightly objects that exist symbiotically with them.

Two vase designs, Munzo and Loum, and a small aspect desk are made from perforated aluminum sheets with matt copper, matt bronze, or matt silver ending. The designs are made to order on JCP Universe’s web site.

Pictures through JCP Universe.