Stefanie Langer
Diploma project | 2006Industrial Design
Over the course of the growth process, which they can admire from sowing to harvest, users build an archaic inner connection to a personally selected foodstuff; as a result, the gardener will automatically respect and enjoy the produce. The pleasure taken in eating this food becomes a conscious, sensuous experience.
At the beginning of the genesis of “their” plants, users fill the plant boxes with earth and sow the seeds. Gourmet Gardening safeguards species-appropriate plant care and makes sure that the plants will be watered – a sensitive, often neglected task. The design offers space for up to five different plant types that users can arrange into a green oasis as desired. Continuous visual documentation enables them to observe the “miraculous” growth of the plants at any given moment, even if the precious produce is already being used in the kitchen.
Creative work with Gourmet Gardening foodstuffs is a sort of culinary luxury for “self-appointed cordon bleu cooks”. As a lifestyle product, Gourmet Gardening covers the aspect of self-realisation while also assuming high representation value. Each user’s diet can thus be individually “upgraded” and enriched, transforming into a unique culinary experience and event to be savoured together with friends and relatives. Gourmet Gardening moreover safeguards fresh produce rich in vitamins and natural flavours; food that is truly “alive” stands for quality of life, enjoyment, taste, health and luxury – which is precisely what many people today yearn for.
Project adviserAxel Thallemer, Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing.
Completion dateOctober 2006