Philia, bio-plant

DESIGN: Laura van de Wijdeven (Atelier LVDW) 

Netherland 

make me! 2023

An alternative for decorative plants. Real or fake, both aren’t very environmentally friendly. For example the plastic production for artificial plants and the high water and energy use in the production of real houseplants. Besides that, many illegally obtained plants are in circulation worldwide, which are poached from the wild. This has serious consequences for biodiversity. Poaching of wild animals and plants is in the top 3 of biggest threats to biodiversity worldwide. It comes after habitat destruction, but before climate change. To draw attention to this problem, Laura developed a biomaterial made from botanical waste for the development of “rare” artificial plants. She made a fermented liquid from the stinging nettle in which good bacteria where added, this ensured the growth of a biomaterial called bacterial cellulose. A very strong bio-material which consisted of pure cellulose. With this material she developes fully biodegradable art-plants.