Boskke – Urban Gardening Design

With two-thirds of the global population expected to live in urban cities by 2050, people are increasingly looking for ways to reconnect with nature. After all, 82% of people in the UK say being surrounded by greenery makes them feel happier. But with life moving faster than ever, time and also space are increasingly limited. Boskke (meaning ‘little forest’ in old English) therefore set out with the mission to find new ways to gardening that appreciate the challenges of city living and to encourage greenery in our cities, homes and workplaces. “Boskke is derived from the old English word ‘bosky’ which means ‘a small forest’,” says Boskke cofounder Patrick. “And that’s exactly what you can create with our intelligent, eco-sensitive designs.”

Boskke is a London-based urban gardening product design firm that is not only one of the pioneers of ceiling gardening, but the studio has been developing urban gardening products since 2009. Co-founded by Patrick and Jake Morris, the two brothers hail from Matakana, New Zealand, where their family runs Morris & James, the country’s leading producer of hand-made ceramic pots and homewares. “Our parents have been making garden pots since 1977, so we grew up with ceramics,” says Jake. “Boskke is a continuation of our family heritage, but with a contemporary angle.”

The brand’s signature piece is the Sky Planter that Patrick designed in the final year of his degree in ceramic design at Central Saint Martins – the design won him the New Designer 2008 Award and the Red Dot Award in 2011.

In February, Boskke launched Flipped – a new planter that is both playful and deliberate in its design. Inspired by the way traditional plant pots are often stacked upside down when they’re not in use, the outer body works as a water reservoir, supplying moisture to the plant for up to two weeks using Slo-Flo irrigation technology.