Retail therapy: For indoor gardeners, Viridi offers a sustainable and stylish way to plant

Katrina Huang launched Viridi last summer, an online shop for her handmade rattan and spun bamboo pots that she sells alongside local vintage finds such as candleholders, mirrors, books and furnishings.

While looking for stylish pots to accommodate her increasing indoor plant collection, Katrina Huang was inspired to create her own line of pots and planters. Last summer, the 25-year-old launched Viridi, an online shop for her handmade rattan and spun bamboo pots that she sells alongside local vintage finds such as candleholders, mirrors, books and furnishings.

Viridi is an extension of Huang’s own lifestyle. After moving out on her own to a small apartment in downtown Toronto, Huang found herself becoming more and more invested in at-home horticulture, propagating her greenery and watching it grow. “Every open surface was filled with plants when not in use – coffee tables, the kitchen island, the floor.” But containing her succulents and sprouts was another matter. “When I was trying to find planters and decor that fit with my style, I found that there really wasn’t a biodegradable planter made of natural material that was lightweight,” she says. Instead of ceramic, which is heavy, and plastic or fibreglass, which is non-biodegradable, Huang designs planters and pots that are handmade of bamboo and rattan in Vietnam. Her Gemini Pot, a double-ended design that accommodates plants as they grow, has already sold out.

Huang designs planters and pots that are handmade of bamboo and rattan in Vietnam.

For Huang, caring for plants boasts some therapeutic benefits. “Plants are so rewarding, especially in urban places you don’t really have a backyard or somewhere you can just zone out,” she says of the boom in popularity of indoor growing. “Caring for your plants has become another form of therapy in a way because people are stuck inside all the time. It’s become a mental escape.”

viridi.co

Gemini double-sided pot made of bamboo, $67.