The seed
Wallflower was born from a personal desire to be more connected with nature, especially as we spend more hours at home. For the longest time we wanted to grow our own herbs and vegetables and use fresh them as part of a healthy culinary habit.
That desire many times clashed with our busy schedules and constant reliance on our devices, even at home. We realized we needed a visual compass, a reminder of what we wanted and a way to measure our commitment to our goals.
Wallflower became a subtle reminder for us to rekindle our relationship with nature. To germinate the seeds, simply tear off one colour chip embedded with the seeds of the herbs you desire and grow it in a pot of soil. Each colour represents a particular herb making it easy to trace the types of herbs one has planted over time. In a nuanced manner, it visually communicates the small data of how often we grow and what we grow to use in our daily rituals. The wall art evolves and finally disappears, without waste, when all the seeds are planted.
Our vision
Wallflower redefines our home gardening experience with plants. It transforms seeds into art, giving them a constant presence and visibility in our living environment.
Purchasing seeds is a more sustainable, low-carbon alternative to buying potted plants. Without transplanting, supermarket potted herbs have a short lifespan, producing waste from the plastic pots discarded. On the other hand, seeds are often stored in paper packaging along with other garden tools. Out of sight, out of mind. Some seeds may never grow into plants.
We hope to bring together a community of passionate plant enthusiast from all over the world and rediscover our relationship with nature, local edible plants, spices and herbs. We want to encourage everyone to grow their own plants and use them in their kitchen as a regular culinary ritual.
Forest & Whale
Wallflower was designed and developed by Forest & Whale, a multi-disciplinary design practice co-founded by Wendy Chua and Gustavo Maggio, that envisages design as an agent of change, one that imagines a better future through the lens of innovation, sustainability and design anthropology. They create products and services that redefine the way we live, from homeware objects and furniture systems to new models and practices for aging societies. Based in Singapore and Berlin, their work has been exhibited in the Milan Triennale Museum and the Museum of Craft and Design of San Francisco among others.
Wallflower was brought to life in collaboration with Pharaon Sirah, a brand strategist, graphic and motion designer based in Singapore.
Naya
WallFlower was developed on Naya, an online software that supports the end-to-end journey of physical product design. The platform, built by designers for designers, enhances co:creation and workflow. It also superpowers design teams with AI integrations to help them develop more creative, thoughtful, and inclusive products. Learn more here.