Interfacing nature with Elementa UT

Elementa's stand at the Norwegian Presence Exhibition in Zona Tortona, Milan 2018. Photo by Torjus Berglid

On this year's Milan Exhiition Elementa introduced UT - a series of objects that seek to explore new ways to interface nature. In collaboration with known and less known designers and artists the aim is to follow the Scandinavian Design tradition onto some less travelled paths.

Ki Light - by Hallgeir Homstvedt

The Ki is a minimal interior lamp doubling as a plant light that will keep your plants happy during winter and in less enlightened corners of the house. The tiltable shade is magnetic, allowing for easy and elegant height adjustment. Made with plants in mind, the Ki also works as a standalone table lamp. The full spectre LED light that stimulates photosynthesis, is also comfortable for human eyes.

Designed by Hallgeir Homstvedt, the Ki is available with a cast iron base or a spear that you can plunge directly into the soil of a flowerpot, using the planter itself as a base for the lamp. As the light is reflected by the leaves of the plants, the division between plant and the lamp is blurred, producing a new type of object: a plant-light .

The Ur Ceremonial Water Cans - by Kneip

In our busy everyday life it can be easy to fall into regarding the care of our home plants as yet another task on our to-do list to be executed. The thought behind the Ur Watercan is to elevate the activity of sharing water with plants into a ritual, to be done with love and mindfulness.

The designers behind the project is Norwegian arts and crafts duo Kneip (Stian Korntvedt Ruud and Jørgen Platou Willumsen). The Ur cans are handmade, precisely executed in stainless steel - and deliberately made a bit heavy. The design shows inspiration both from coffee and tea culture and from industrial modernism - achieving a refined balancing of roughness and delicacy.

Klorofyll Planter System by Anderssen & Voll

The Klorofyll Planter System is designed to provide a complete toolkit for interior design with plants. With a mix of both conventional sized flowerpots and a series of large scale planters supported by metal stands, the system makes it possible to build rich interior landscapes of greenery, dilluting the strict boundaries of chair, table and shelf.

Conceived in natural or grey terracotta, the planters will add warmth and natural texture to any interior - and is equally fit for outdoor use, in gardens and on terraces. The add-on tables invite to interact with the plants and makes it easier to integrate the planters with other furniture . The espalier that caters for climbing plants makes for a living dividing wall

Klorofyll is designed by Anderssen & Voll, who originally grew out from Norway Says - and who is among Norway's most celebrated design offices.

Derive - by Emma Staubo & Jomi Evers

The geometric shape of the Derive hides its secret. Only as you move it around it, you will hear what it is about: bringing us into direct contact with nature.

Connected to a live audio stream from a listening station placed deep into a Norwegian forest, the Derive transmits whatever goes on in the woods. Sometimes it will be birds and insects, at other times lush winds, rain and thunder - and more often than not, a sort of quietude that is rare to experience for most of us.

The Derive emerges out of designer Emma Staubo's notion of Boundary Beings, exploring the climate that arises in the zones where nature meets the digital world. The shape of the Derive, designed together with Jomi Evers, shows inspiration both from sound waves and from elements to be found in the forest, such as pine cones and mushrooms.