'Candlepot' Aromatic In-Home Fixture

nstructed to design a low-tech, high-interaction product, I set out to "bring the outside in" by enhancing senses that feel like the outdoors. The aptly-named 'Candlepot' enhances the aroma of fragrant plants through a modern adaptation of ancient oil lamp technology; It introduces sensory variety to an otherwise stagnant plant ownership experience.

Contribution: All My Work
Timeline: 8 Weeks
Date Completed: March 2025
Association: CMU School of Design

1 — Pot a fragrant plant, such as lavender, jasmine, or orchids.

2 — Periodically snip and place mature pieces into the reservoir.

3 — Fill the reservoir with olive oil, stopping at the fill line.

4 — Coat the wick and light it; It'll burn until the oil runs out.

Concept Framing

In-Home Conversations Added Perspective

I crafted a research protocol and conducted semi-structured conversations within 7 subject's homes to understand: (1) why people use their homes the way they do, (2) their relationship with the outdoors and indoors, (3) why or why not their homes serve this relationship, and (4) what they would do to alter their homes (with no real-world boundaries) to better serve this relationship.

My subjects move indoors to destimulate, but after enough time has passed, they can feel disconnected from the world.

Concept Ideation

Rapid Brainstorming Pushes Me Toward Bringing 'Actual Nature' Indoors

With a mind full of newfound insights and knowledge, I conducted a 2-hour rapid brainstorming exercise to get any and all ideas out in front of me. I filled a two-axis paper chart—horizontally low to high tech, and vertically low to high predicted effectiveness—with a sticky note for each idea, color coded to each of my 12 areas of opportunity.

The sticky notes in the top left quadrant were appropriate moving forward as they were low-tech and I predicted them to be effective. I noticed that many of them were dark blue, meaning they addressed my 4th area of opportunity: "literally bringing nature, things that feel like nature, or things that remind us of nature, indoors."

Design Statement Informed By Existing Solutions

The most popular example of 'literally bringing nature indoors' is potted plants, and for good reason. It is hard to effectively capture the organic and unpredictable characteristics of nature through man-made creations.

However, even with potted plants, we can still feel so disconnected from the outdoors. Looking back to my research and reading, it seemed to fall on the fact that potted plants are often one and done solutions, and they aren't very interactive. We enjoy their aesthetics, but with enough time we can neglect them as life gets busy and they become an extraneous responsibility. Potted plants help us feel more connected, but...

How might our relationship with potted plants be enhanced?

Concept Design

Concept Iteration 1

A pot with an angled mirror to reflect light up through a plant to create a dynamic, organic effect on the ceiling above. However, in most places around the world, sunlight alone isn't consistently strong enough or direct enough to support this effect.

Concept Iteration 2

A shielded candle inserted into a pot that emits a calming, subtle glow. However, this presents an obvious fire risk and doesn't provide much value for the effort required.