👀Brief 02 example: The Postable Garden
Designed by Ben Palmer
About
The Postable Garden is a housing for air plants made out of one sheet of recycled plastic. The plastic sheet is made from old polypropylene plant pots which were collected from local garden centres in and aroud Brighton. The plant pots were cut into small pieces and then melted to form sheets pressed under a cast iron book press. The process involves using a material that is currently problematic to recycle, and therefore reduces the environmental impact by creating a desirable object that is less likely to end up in landfill. Due to the slow growth of air plants, the plants will not outgrow the display for a long time. The initial area of interest relating to this project was small-space living where I wanted to think of innovative ways that the garden could be brought indoors for those with a lack of, or limited garden space.
The following process was based on a Univeristy brief to deisgn a product to be as simple, cost-effective and waste efficient as possible. The criteria was that it had to fit through a standard letterbox.
Visual Research
Through brainstorming, I came to the idea of devising a way of bringing more greenery to cramped small spaces. When I began to research this as a potential concept, I came across a company called Bloom & Wild who are the inventors of "Letterbox Flowers". The flowers are posted in bud which allows the customer to enjoy them for longer. Inspired by this concept, I attempted to deisgn a way of posting a garden. I took inspiration from the Memphis Group and different architectural structures where simple 2D forms could be slotted together cleverly to create an abstract structure, that could be functional as well as sculptural.
Structural Experimentation
In order to generate an idea that would fit the brief and give me varied possibilities I cut 4 100 x 100mm sqaures out of 2mm cardboard with circles and rings nesting inside each square. The process was done in this way as it allowed me to experiment with multiple shapes and structures to try and establish which would be most desirable and hold the plants in a way that displays them effectively. I wanted to use as much of the material as possible without creating a block like structure, which was where the idea of nesting the rounded shapes inside the square came from.
To test the structure further I laser cut a model from a small offcut of MDF to find out how easily the structure fitted together, and further attempt to design a slotting pattern that would create a desirable object. I also bought a variety of air plants to test inside the structure to ensure that they would fit inside the object and look visually appealing.
Material Experimentation
Once I had established a structure which I believed to be suitable to take forward, I began to think about the material I would use. Due to the fact that air plants must be sprayed with water in order to survive it was important that a waterproof material was used. I began to research potential eco-friendly plastics that could be used for the product. I came accross an example of a "plastic" that can be made at home using just milk and vinegar. The process was as follows:
Step 1: Heat up milk on the hob untill just before boiling, them remove from the heat and add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar.
Step 2: This will split the milk proteins into small curds, which should then be passed through a sieve or colander.
Step 3: Spoon the curds onto sheets of kitchen roll and pat dry.
Step 4: Once the curds are completely dry, press them firmly into a mould of choice and allow to set (about 1 week).
After one week, the material dried and felt like a slightly greasy, lightweight "plastic" part that could be easily broken with little force. The initial idea based on using this material was that the moulds would be sent out to the customer where they would create the product themselves. This would hopefully form an emotional connection to the product decreasing the liklihood the product will end up in landfill. However there were issues with the single use plastic necessary to create a mould that would most likely be thrown away, and also due to the material not being of a sufficient quality it was likely to deterioate quite quickly, also ending up as waste meaning the product lifespan would be very short.
To further explore potential materials that could be used for the product I went to garden centres around Brighton to try and source waste material generated by the gardening industry. When exploring I discovered that some of the bigger garden centres visited had a scheme where plant pots are encouraged to be returned so that they can be recycled, however some admitted they go straight into the general waste. I therefore took a selection of the plant pots with the intent of forming them into a recycled sheet. Through further research of the use of plastic pots it came to me that there purpose is for transporting plants therefore are intended to only be used once, and because a large proportion of them are black they cannot be picked up by the infrared scanner used to sort plastic in recycling centres.
According to Horticulture Week, up to 87% of UK councils will not recycle plastic pots from kerbside collections due to no one in the supply chain wanting the low grade plastic that needs more cleaning than other plastics.
I therefore saw this as an oppurtunity to use a material thats generally seen as disposable to create something visually desirable that people are less likely to throw away. Once a variety of pots had been sourced I started to experiment with creating a sheet material using the following process:
Step 1: Cut up the different coloured plant pots into small pieces, and either mix all the colours together or keep them seperate to create more specifically coloured sheets.
Step 2: Lay the chosen pieces of plastic in the middle of a baking tray lined with baking parchment in a small pile (don't worry about using too little as the sheets can easily be layered up to get the desired thickness).
Step 3: Place in the oven at 160° untill the plastic has completely melted (took about 10 minutes for me in a preheated oven).
Step 4: To press the sheet, remove from the oven and place another sheet of baking parchment on top before quickly pressing under a cast iron book press and leave untill completely cooled (you could also use a hydraullic press or clamp between two bits of scrap wood).
Step 5: Once the sheet has cooled completely remove from under the press and cut of the jagged edges using a hacksaw or band saw (this will allow you to easily check the thickness of the material).
When experimenting whilst creating the sheets, I had some issues with getting the sheet completely flat, however I figured out this is down to not leaving it to cool for long enough, so make sure you leave it for a sufficinet amount of time.
I managed to create 5 3mm thick 250 x 250mm sheets using this process that were then ready to be laser-cut.
Supply Chain
To create the supply chain for the product I based it on Bloom & Wild as there service aims to source there flowers responsibly considering all people in the supply chain as well as reduce CO2 emissions through the use of optimum climate conditions for growing and the use of mostly recyclable packaging.
By using this as a basis I have incoroporated the production of my product into there well-established supply chain and fitted my product into this business model considering the sourcing of plants from one of the areas that Bloom & Wild sources there flowers, as well as how the machinery needed for manufacture could fit into their central distribution centre in Lincolnshire. An initial part of the service could involve garden centres sending their used pots to Bloom & Wild with the appeal that a desirable object would be created rather than the plastic pots causing problematic sorting issues at the recycling centre. The commercial machinery necessary to produce the product would be a plastic waste shredder, an R30 Sheet Press that takes 10 minutes to press a 457 x 305mm sheet of 3mm thickness, and a laser cutter. Due to the simplicity of the design it would be quick to cut. You would be able to cut 3 units out of one sheet and crush down the outside waste to create more sheets. A visual representation of the cut is shown below:
Manufacturing and Assembly
Creating the Recycled Plastic Sheet
I had access to a plastic workshop at my University to create the sheet however the facilities I used could easily be mimicked at home with minimal tools to create very successful results. Therefore you can follow exactly the same procedure that is listed in the "Material Experimentation" section with a few adaptations I have listed below:
Instead of using the ventilated ovens I had access to at the University, you could use a toastie oven in a well ventilated area and melt the plastic on a baking sheet in exactly the same way, as polypropylenes melting point is only 160°.
To mimic the book/hydraulic press, at home you could use two clamps and place the melted plastic with baking parchment on either side between two pieces of scrap wood.
People have also had success using a toastie machine where the plastic is placed between two sheets of baking paper and pressed until its fully melted then the toastie machine is turned off and the plastic cools down as its still being pressed, creating a flat sheet.
Laser cutting the sheet
The flat DXF file is 200mm x 200mm therefore you need a 3mm sheet just over that in order to laser cut. Not all laser cutters will cut in the exact same way, therefore it's a good idea to experiment with different speeds and power to give the best result. I found that setting the laser cutter to a slower speed worked much better. The object in its flat form after laser cutting is displayed below:
The product would be packaged and shipped in a box as shown in the image below:
Due to the use of tabs the assembly of the product is very simple and self explanatory and does not need to be done in a specific order, however assembly instructions are displayed below:
3D File
View postablegarden.STEP @ Wikifactory
Potential for the future
For the future of this project I want to continue to explore the use plastic that was going to end up as waste and strive to create desirable products. Therefore through the use of plastic plant pots I want to experiment further with other ways it can be used, for instance through the creation of thread to create woven structures, or through the use of waste from the gardening industry such as flower petals to create interesting patterns within the sheets of plastic. I can see potential in scaling up this idea based on the concept of a postable garden that could take a variety of different forms all using plant pots. The design of the structure could involve the user more where an interface could allow them to play around and adapt the structure to there preference, further enhancing the emotional connection to the product. I want to experiment with this concept in physical form also where the customer has the option to create multiple different structures. I also believe that the basis of the product was of efficient use of material, however with more refined geometry and patterns, I want to attempt to create more abstract shapes and structures.
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