Wellness, reconsidered through design. Warm ceramic and the honesty of glass introduce dynamic and vivacious self-care. How might algae help us rebuild the relationship between our wellbeing, our food, and our ecosystem?
Glass Grove is a countertop wellness system that cultivates fresh, bioavailable nutrients through living algae like Spirulina and Chlorella.
Designed for daily interaction, it reintroduces personal nutrition as a ritual that supports long-term health through active, and deliberate care. The form is blend of glass, porcelain, & brass. As both a tool and a symbol, Glass Grove lights a path to a future where humans regain a spirit of stewardship and symbiosis with our very green planet.
My experimentation with both Chlorella & Spirulina opened my eyes about the simplicity or building a responsive system around algae. As the culture became more dense, I experimented with slimmer and taller forms that felt less cold and more elegant.
By growing algae in my studio, I was able to slowly whittle through design forms that were possibilities and some that would never see the light of day. Some were large conceptual furniture pieces with a living component. All of this while looking for favorable algae types for user testing.
Spirulina and Chlorella were found to be the best balanced with exceptional nutrient production and a fairly simple daily interaction that felt meaningful and satisfying to do on my own. While working with the algae every day, my interactions with it helped narrow down forms and CMF even further.
User testing on taste and form further drove my design process until I found the form that solved the most problems, decreasing friction of interactions and eventually gained me access to ICFF as well as NYCxDesign at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
