The beauty and benefits of Plant the Future designs
The idea of feeling at home, comforted and rooted has somehow lost its affect on the millennial generation. We’re constantly moving to different cities, changing our clothing style, altering between being vegan and vegetarian (and vegan again) and the sense of familiarity has lost its essence. We live in concrete structures and drive in metal contraptions and the touch of the natural has slipped through the cracks. It’s no wonder we’re always stressed and anxiety-ridden, but the greenery of a potted plant somehow opens a room up -- it forces us to open the dusted curtains and let the light flood in and suddenly we wonder how we could have ever lived without the natural elements we’ve put on the back burner for so long.
Plant the Future owners Yair Marcoschamer and Paloma Teppa incorporated plants to be the main focus of a wall, table or room at their plant art gallery. They brought these stress-reducing natural elements from outside into our living spaces so we can cohabite with one another, as it should be!
From cacti to succulents, air plants and moss walls, combining both art and nature is the base at Plant the Future. I spoke with Yair about how he and his wife started their business in Wynwood (before it was cool), how to care for these living pieces of art and how plants can help de-stress us throughout the work week.
“I studied business and Paloma studied industrial design and art,” Yair said. “We didn’t have prior knowledge as botanists or horticulturalists, but we have always been in love with nature and that has brought us to where we are. We learned everything along the way.”
From their humble beginnings, Yair and Paloma found a way to tackle plant trends like the beloved succulent and use figurines and other art forms to make mixed media pieces.
“We use cacti, succulents for some of our table top arrangements. Some of our floor plant arrangements include big cactuses. For our figurines and some of our more unique pieces, we use air plants which are epiphytes and then we use moss for applications such as a moss wall,” Yair said. “Then we have just foliage plants, just trees and so forth for big areas where you want to create warmth.”
Now, I was curious, because I’ve heard that surrounding yourself with plants can bring joy to your life, so I asked Yair – can plants really bring you happiness?
“There’s a concept called biophilia. It’s a theory that says we as humans have a biological, instinctive connection with other species, such as plants,” he said. “And ultimately that connection, when you nurture it, it brings you a lot of benefit in your life.”
So what are some benefits of having mini succulents in every room?
For starters, one study found that when people walked outside in an area with more trees and greenery, they had less negatives thoughts or feelings, verses when they walked in an urban environment. The natural element targets the brain in the area that is associated with depression.
And according to another study, walking in nature can produce more creativity than just walking on a treadmill.
A different study found that being around nature can help with concentration. Researchers tested it out on children with ADHD and discovered that the children who performed tasks in outdoor greenery settings, the symptoms of ADHD reduced significantly.
While most of these studies almost force us to go outside to get the positive effects, thankfully Plant the Future found a way for us to experience those improvements in our daily lives while inside as well!
A living wall of plants or a preserved wall of moss can do just the trick, but it all depends on what you prefer. For a young professional like me, it’ll be so much harder to take care of something that constantly depends on me, so I gravitated toward a terrarium -- but every time I walk into their store, there’s always something new to see. It’s all that creative walking, I bet!
“Our main inspiration is our love for nature, and we feel that nature and plants themselves are a necessity that us as humans have for living,” Yair said. “From an artistic point of view, we have inspiration from travels, from people, from magazines, from Instagram, a thought.”
Yair and Paloma have collaborated with artists in Wynwood, and have even captured attention from Starbucks, the One Hotel and residents all over the country.
“I have three Starbucks that we worked on,” Yair said. “The first project we did for them was the Starbucks reserve in Disney. We did a moss art piece of the siren the logo. Then we did one in Biscayne Boulevard. And now we are working on another project in Savannah, Georgia with a chandelier made out of manzanita branches. “
The team has also ventured off into landscape design, which also opened some new doors for them. “We’re doing a lot of landscape for hotels, private residences, we’ve expanded our project capabilities to the northeast, so we’re doing some things in New York City, with eventual plans to open up a store in New York City as well.”
Ever since this interview, I’ve considered buying plants and carrying it with me everywhere, including the kitchen so I can cook and not get annoyed at how long my chicken is taking to become edible. But everything good comes with a price. Small gifts and single plants that most of us can afford range from $10 to $20 and can go up to thousands of dollars for artistic pieces.
Whether you have a green thumb or can’t keep your grass plant alive, any sort of greenery can benefit your day-to-day life. So if want to brighten up your dorm room, apartment or work space, the living art at Plant the Future has just what you’re looking for. I bet you’ll be happier for it.