Work/La Cool Co.

Seedlings growing under the kit's multicoloured LED grow lights, the smart greenhouse running in the dark

The world's first open-source DIY smart greenhouse

An open-source hardware gardening system for education, B2C and B2B, covered by WIRED and Vanity Fair and shown at 25 Maker Faires.

Client
La Cool Co.
Completed
2016
Role
Co-Founder & Product Designer
Product DesignDesign Strategy

La Cool Co. grew from a student project into a company on a mission: let anyone grow any plant, anywhere, on an open environmental monitoring platform.

As co-founder and product designer in a 10-person team of designers, engineers, educators and analysts, I worked across hardware, software, brand and community for over three years.

La Cool Co brand board: build, electronics and exhibition shots around the slogan grow anything, anywhere
The smart greenhouse glowing purple beside its feature list: sensing, watering, lighting and open DIY build

The kit travelled to 25 Maker Faires worldwide and earned coverage in WIRED, Vanity Fair and Le Figaro.

Every part of the greenhouse kit laid out flat on a table, showing how much a self-build owner assembles
The kit's electronic components arranged flat: Arduino board, fans, moisture sensors, wiring and grow LEDs
The assembled control board wired into the greenhouse frame, with sensor module and cooling fan in place
The company sign-off slide reading be open, be cool, stating its open-source ethos as a tagline