London based designer Samuel Wilkinson has designed a flora terrarium that links to your iPad or iPhone.
Biome is a flora terrarium that’s works a little like a live tamagotchi – with a iPhone or iPad as its key to controlling its climate, water level and nutrients. The idea promotes ‘digital downtime’ by finding an alternative use for smartphones and encouraging their owners to consider a slower life. The control and nurturing of a real mini eco-system takes patience and care, contrasting with the immediacy of messaging or tweeting that is so characteristic of the smartphone generation. This smart garden has low energy lighting that can replicate sunlight and contains sensors that link back to the device when connected. It is designed to incorporate different types of environment – tropical, desert, even herb garden – and can be easily controlled by even the least green-fingered of users.
The design was developed for an exhibition titled ‘Slow Tech – Designs for Digital Downtime’ at trend agency Protein’s exhibition space. The exhibition was curated by Henrietta Thompson (editor-at-large at Wallpaper*).
About Samuel Wilkinson Design Studio:
Samuel Wilkinson set up his industrial studio at the end of 2007 and a year later, in 2008 Wilkinson completed his largest work, L’arbre de Flonville in Lausanne, Switzerland. The work consists of a contemporary town square featuring a 16m sculptural metal tree surrounded by sculpted racine benches. Samuel’s recent design of the Plumen 001 light bulb (collaboration with Hulger) and the Handblown glass lamps ‘Vessel Series’ for DecodeLondon have won international acclaim. Plumen collected the grand prize from the Design Museum of ‘2011 Design of the Year’ in the prestigious Brit Insurance International Design Awards and Vessel was nominated for Best British Design. Samuel Wilkinson’s commitment and enthusiasm to designing interesting objects is apparent in his work, always looking to add a fresh dynamic approach in either form or function.
