The Biome allows you to grow exotic plants in a carefully controlled atmosphere.
Biome is a flora terrarium with a delicate balance moderated by you: its climate, water level and nutrients are managed via smartphone or iPad. The idea promotes “digital downtime” – steering the owners of 21st-century, 24-hour gadgets towards a slower life.
The control and nurturing of a real eco-system takes patience and care. This smart garden has low-energy lighting to replicate sunlight and contains sensors on the dome’s conditions that link back to the device when connected; air and moisture levels are controlled by the hole in the pointy top.
Choose your landscape – tropical, desert, herb garden – and then control it using an app on your device, which displays a readout of conditions. The Biome, by London-based designer Samuel Wilkinson, was designed for an exhibition; hopefully it will be available to buy.
(Take the hint, Wilkinson.)