In my first apartment, I managed to kill every one of my three plants—a modest number but still it signaled a future trend for destroying anything with green leaves. So when I eventually moved to a very, very cold place in the Colorado mountains, I had the perfect excuse to avoid indoor foliage. Now I feel that enough time has passed that I should try again. Thankfully, Swedish company Greenworks may have just the prescription to give me my very own green thumb.

Babylone. Manufactured by Greenworks.

Modern Planter in a Lighted Globe

A little pod of light and luster, Babylone seeks to extend the Greenworks line of plant-dominated furniture and accessories. Designed by Alexis Tricoire, Babylone is a spherical Plexiglas pendant “for planting with lighting.” The 220 V light at the globe’s center is a glowing tube that serves to light up interior spaces, including its closest surrounding space—the planter itself. Babylone includes five openings “that allow stems and leaves to meander out of the globe,” as well as one larger opening for plant watering and maintenance.

Babylone is a 50-cm ball with pumice in its bottom; the pumice absorbs water and “contains minerals and micro nutrients that feed the plants.” Because of this material, the plants housed in Babylone only need watering every three weeks. With many different plants and various pumice colors to choose from, “every globe can have its unique expression.” Besides lighting, Babylone functions as an air cleaner and humidifier, because Greenworks wants to offer products that also have “health-bringing capacities.”

About the Manufacturer: Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Greenworks designs, produces, and markets functional furniture and accessories that integrate “an extensive amount of plants.” Their goal to “bring the outdoors indoors” began with the introduction of Moving Hedge, a double-sided plant wall on wheels. The people behind the company, Lisa Wacklin and Per Berglund, combined their “mutual interest in green walls” with the financial know-how of Michael Worrman, CFO, to expand the product line beyond Moving Hedge, which was introduced in 2008.