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It’s been a challenging year for all brick & mortar shops, but so far we’ve been impressed by their agility to adjust and open “click & collect” or call & collect” or “pavement pick-up” or “drive-through” shopping options. For now, have a virtual look around both Jane boutiques and make sure to visit Jane Jardinerie in Nantes or Angers when you’re in the neighborhood. Jeanne Barret embarks on the first French expedition around the world led by Bougainville to accompany the famous naturalist and botanist, Philibert Commerson, her companion. Jeanne brings back the botanical harvests of Philibert Commerson intended for the “King’s Garden”, ie 30 cases containing some 5,000 species, of which 3,000 are described as new.

The exhibition “Plant Fever Towards a Phyto-centred Design” curated by studio d-o-t-s, explores how designers, artists and engineers incorporate plants and plant derived materials in their work and how plants function as resources, pets and allies. The recent findings that suggest that plants are sentient beings; the ongoing climate crisis linked to the Anthropocene; the ethical debate around artificial intelligence, plant engineering and synthetic biology: all these new perspectives are shaking up the Western world’s vision of human supremacy over everything else, including the vegetal realm. Informed by novel scientific discoveries and stimulated by growing moral concerns regarding non-human beings, designers, artists and engineers have started to look into the uncovered capabilities of plants to imagine a future in which thinking like them and collaborating with them could become the new norm. While in most cases their goals remain closely human-centred, these explorations are leading the way towards a more vegetal-conscious approach to design which goes beyond plant’s instrumentalisation and mechanisation.

Because all the Plant Tribe book events that we planned for the official booklaunch in March were postponed, we were very excited that we managed to organize a small Covid-proof event in Berlin for the launch of the German edition of the Plant Tribe book. The location in the heart of Wedding Berlin was an obvious choice: it’s the studio and event space of Jules Villbrandt, our friend and photographer that did all the photography for the Plant Tribe book, and her team Maria and Wilkin from Herz&Blut. The launch of the German edition of Plant Tribe, was also the perfect occasion to reveal the plant spheres that Dirty Roots created as a limited edition with Urban Jungle Bloggers. For the launch of the book we also partnered with Art Flash gallery, a Berlin based art gallery that has a large variety of original artwork available for affordable prices.

They mix the concrete themselves creating various colors and effects, they add volcanic rocks thus providing a perfect living environment for plants as the pots breathe and have drainage holes. Every plant-pot combination is well considered and the final result get baptized accordingly: so with Dirty Roots Berlin you can add Hale-Bopp, Kalliope or Orion’s Belt to your home. Additionally, every planter is a one-of-a-kind piece and you will definitely get something unique for your plant collection and plant shelf. All Dirty Roots Berlin pots come in three sizes: small, medium and giant (definitely eye-catcher and statement piece).