Crises have been and still are a human responsibility. Certainly badly designed and badly used packaging is “a” problem, but not “the” problem. On the other hand, it represents the opportunity that design has not only to solve a health crisis, but also the consequences of a new form of pollution.įinally, it confirms once again that the problem of waste and more generally of the environmental crises we are facing at a global level, is not only the responsibility of packaging, especially plastic ones, accused of being one of the main causes of pollution of the seas or of global warming. On the one hand, this project highlights the need to rethink an individual protective device born with other purposes (mainly preventing surgical sepsis) and intended for use in a specific context (medical field), and now transformed into a common accessory for daily use. In Kenya, for example, “seed bombs” were used experimentally to improve planting yield during the 2016 aerial reforestation.Īlthough it is obviously a small-scale production artisan solution, whose barrier properties should undoubtedly be verified and the effective protection from coronavirus transmission certified, the Marie Bee Bloom mask is an example of how creatively and responsibly we can contribute to resolving contemporary crises.

Seed bombing, as well as being a guerrilla gardening technique, is also used to practice active reforestation. In the category of everyday objects that can be planted, although not made in seed-paper but still characterized by the inclusion of seeds inside, it is also worth mentioning the sprout pencils of Sprout World.įrom a conceptual point of view, the project refers to the so-called “seed bombs” and guerrilla gardening, a form of green activism born in the 1970s, which takes the form of a gardening activity practiced on abandoned sites, untreated areas, or even private properties perceived as neglected by its owners.Ī seed-bomb – also called a seed-ball (“ball of seeds”) – is a small “bomb” made up of a combination of compost, clay and seeds, usually flowers: compost and clay act as a support for the seeds so they can be thrown over walls or fences and into inaccessible areas such as wastelands or railways.

An interesting example in this sense is the concept proposed by Bianca Pasternack for the packaging of Botanica chocolate. Seed-paper is a material that in recent years has been widely used in everyday objects – including notebooks and other articles in “plantable paper” – and, albeit with certain technical limitations and low-scale, also in cellulosic packaging to create packages with a strong symbolic and evocative value. The paper can also have different colors and textures depending on the variety of seeds used.

The seeds retain the ability to germinate after the manufacturing process of the cellulosic support and are able to germinate when such support is planted in the ground. From a technological point of view, Marie Bee Bloom occupies a material called seed-paper, a type of paper that includes seeds inside.

Bloom and bee