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November 04 2022
The Making of FIKA NIWA,
Pair’s 2022 Chairity Entry & Winner of The Most Novel Category
Our 2022 Chairity entry, a side table and home garden that we named FIKA (Scandi for coffee break time) NIWA (Japanese for an indoor garden), was a nod to all things Chairity.
Like fundraising for a 5k race, but instead of a race we’re building furniture, Chairity is an annual fundraiser and design challenge hosted by two furnish. To participate, members of the A+D community transform a discarded piece of furniture into something new, while simultaneously raising money for charity. It all culminates in a capstone celebration, where the work is unveiled and auctioned off to raise additional funds for select Bay Area initiatives. Psst- it’s also a design competition, which, of course, we wanted to win.
We paired (pun intended) this year’s theme of Peace, Love, & Chairity, with one of the initiatives, Friends of the Urban Forest, and their mission to bring more plant life to urban areas to inspire an all-in-one home garden. Groovy, indoor plant life has entered that chat!
Join us as we take you behind the scenes and show you how we turned an odd unidentifiable piece of furniture into a groovy home garden. And how we won “The Most Novel” entry at the event!
An odd pairing
Our journey began at Urban Ore, a huge East Bay thrift store chock full of weird antiques, a hodgepodge of furniture, and sometimes pieces that are wholly unidentifiable. We were immediately drawn to this very odd, likely handmade, round credenza? Tiny bar? Unusally-shaped podium? When we checked out, even the clerk commented “Do you have any idea what this is? Because we've all been trying to figure it out.”
We also added a ridged white lighting fixture to our shopping cart. Both pieces were literally grooved and just a bit odd—the groovy theme of the event was starting to come into focus.
Nothing about the pieces we selected was perfect, square, or level, so we set out to embrace their wabi-sabi. The original stand’s half-round molding felt a bit Japanese and a bit Scandi all at the same time. This weird mix of references is one of the characteristics we loved about the handmade stand. We ran with it.
Going with the Japandi/Scandinese theme, we focused on the Japanese concept of an indoor(ish) garden, tsubo-niwa, and the Swedish concept of fika, a time to take a break from the day’s activities, specifically for a coffee. We set out to create a space where you can take a break from the day and tend to your indoor garden.
Tusbo-niwa meets fika
Our two pieces sparked a lot of ideas but needed quite a transformation to look cohesive and bring our idea of a groovy indoor garden to life. As we began to sketch adaptations of the original piece, we imagined the top level as a surface for plants and the mid-level as a place to store gardening accouterments.
For many city dwellers, filling your apartment with plants creates a sense of calm and connection to nature, but what’s a plant enthusiast to do in those dark corners where there’s no direct sunlight? Our wheels were turning now. In order for this apartment-ready indoor garden to work we’d need to incorporate light.
Moving on from the functional questions of light, we started brainstorming about form. We liked the fluted nature and raw materials of the wooden stand, but we felt this piece needed some physical and visual space to breathe.
Down to the bones
Once satisfied with the direction we were headed, it was time to move into the shop.
We took apart the stand piece by piece, meticulously sanding each individual element to remove its old finish. To modernize the piece we chiseled out a beveled edge along the piece’s two platforms. Finally, we placed each rung back in one by one, spacing them out to create a bit more lightness.
To work as a functional garden, the surfaces would need to be watertight to account for all dripping that happens when you’re watering plants. A simple coat of paint wasn’t going to cut it. We opted for a sleek white pour-over epoxy finish to beef up the surfaces and ensure the piece's longevity. This materiality also created a refreshing contrast with the natural wooden elements.
Get your groove on
Our final addition to the newly epoxied table was a hoop-and-pole trellis for winding vines. Riffing off the base’s circular forms we incorporated two round poles and a circular hoop (that used to be part of a drum!) to give a bit more height to the piece while also supporting larger vine plants.
We utilized our second piece—a white ceramic lamp base—as the base for bendable led lights. Practical and groovy, these led lights can be turned on with a remote control and set with a timer. For calm nights at home, flip on a soft yellow light. For fun funky parties, you can select from a range of bright, groovy colors
Welcome home
Whether you are back at the office or just away for the weekend, your indoor garden will get the “sun” it needs. Its flexible and programmable grow lights can be set to turn on as needed. FIKA NIWA will welcome you back for that much-needed “fika” break to tend to your plants.
FEATURES
Trellis for climbing or hanging plants to wrap around and drape on.
A programmable, remote-controlled grow light with multiple colors and intensity settings.
Two levels to optimize the growth of both full and partial sun plants.
Soft glow-in-the-dark features.
