Going green indoors

Unique approach

Wouldn’t life be a whole lot better if we could take time off from our busy schedule and spend it amidst greens and growing plants? Well, it’s evident that we love greenery, but we don’t have the luxury of time to nurture a garden.
    
Growing plants in an apartment or rooftop is a tedious exercise and can be pursued only by a serious hobbyist or pro. City dwellers believe it’s a hassle to grow plants in compact apartments.

This is where ‘Green Factor’ steps in. The brainchild of Tridiv Das and Satish Kumar, the startup has come up with the first greenhouse furniture, which allows one to grow some plants indoors with minimum water utilisation, without soil or any hassle to manage.

“We have discovered newer ways to stay connected with nature. We deliver enjoyable, carefree indoor and outdoor gardening, which accentuates the aesthetics of your preferred location and helps in better concentration by being around plants. Our products are aligned to the present lifestyle of individuals and help nature co-exist with us.

We provide a person with all the essential paraphernalia to start and maintain their own patch of green. There is a unique shelf-based growing system which provides the ideal condition for plants to grow,” says Satish, the co-founder.

So what made them embark on this journey? “It’s important to find a balance between the growing population and nature. We started this with the aim to empower everyone to own and maintain their own green patch and organically grow a portion of their daily food intake, even if they are living in a small apartment,” says Tridiv.

He adds, “Work on this idea started four years back and we launched it in October this year. A lot of research and development has gone into the soilless water-based growing systems and most of the materials have been sourced from India. After several trials, we identified the ideal material and technology that’s best suited for Indian conditions.”

The interesting part is that these systems are part of everyday essential furniture that one uses at home or at work. “Imagine your bedside table with plants that purify the air in the bedroom or enhance your mood. One can also grow their own organic food and herbs in their kitchen or have ornamental plants in their living room. All you need to do is turn on a switch to feed the plant water and vital minerals everyday for a few minutes. Our systems are integrated into essential pieces of furniture like kitchen shelves, bookshelves, TV stands and bedside tables,” says Satish.

He stresses that these indoor gardening systems are engineered to reduce water consumption by 90 per cent for gardening and without soil. So how has the response been? “The response has been good so far and as of now, we are catering to people in Bengaluru, Delhi and Chennai,” he says.

“At present, we have greenhouse furniture for indoor gardening in three finishes, and we will be augmenting it with more variants and systems for outdoors as well. We also look forward to customising things as per our customers’ requirements,” says Tridiv.