ELIOOO.
How to Go to IKEA and Build a Hydroponic Device to Grow Food in Your Apartment.

ELIOOO is an instruction manual designed to transform an affordable IKEA product into a hydroponic device for growing food in a domestic environment. By following the instructions contained in the book, the reader becomes the manufacturer of an idea: the product described does not exist unless it is built.
The system uses hydroponics, a cultivation technique that allows plants to grow in water rather than soil. Compared to traditional agricultural systems, hydroponics requires significantly less water, occupies minimal space, and allows precise control over the nutrients supplied at each stage of plant growth. The device designed for ELIOOO combines different hydroponic techniques, adapted to be easily assembled and maintained in a domestic setting.

Although the system enables users to grow food at home—potentially turning them into urban farmers—ELIOOO is neither a general guide to urban farming nor a technical handbook on hydroponics. It is a design manual that demonstrates how an existing mass-produced object can be reconfigured to perform a function for which it was never intended.

At the core of the project lies the conviction that the ultimate object of design is knowledge. Design operates through the visualization of quantities, the organization of procedures, and the construction of narratives that make complex processes accessible. Traditionally, such narratives are handed over to specialized producers. In ELIOOO, this separation is deliberately dissolved: anyone can become the maker.
Rather than proposing new products or inventing alternative distribution chains, ELIOOO works by reassembling what already exists. By using standard IKEA components, the project transforms IKEA itself into an unintended distributor of a product that does not officially exist, while positioning the user as the actual producer.

The manual is also conceived as an open system. Users are encouraged to experiment with different configurations, adapt the system to their needs, and modify the design with or without IKEA components. ELIOOO is not meant to be followed passively, but to be tinkered with, adjusted, and reinterpreted.
The project is available as a printed book and as a digital publication, distributed through mainstream platforms. In this way, ELIOOO operates simultaneously as a design object, a technical guide, a narrative device, and a tool for activating new forms of agency in everyday life.

Displace - ELIOOO displaces conventional distinctions between designer, producer, and user by relocating production into the domestic sphere.
It challenges established supply chains by demonstrating how a mass-market product can be reconfigured to fulfill an alternative purpose without the introduction of new industrial processes.

Expose - The project exposes the hidden assumptions embedded in contemporary systems of production and consumption. By revealing how easily existing products can be repurposed, ELIOOO makes visible the contingencies of industrial design, logistics, and authorship.

Mediate - ELIOOO mediates technical and agricultural knowledge through design by translating complex hydroponic systems into an accessible manual format.
The book functions as an interface that connects abstract principles, material components, and everyday practices.

Activate - By inviting users to build, modify, and experiment, ELIOOO activates forms of individual and collective agency. The project transforms passive consumers into active participants, enabling them to engage directly with food production, design processes, and material systems.

ELIOOO does not propose a finished product, but a condition in which design becomes a tool for knowledge transmission, critical reflection, and practical engagement. Through instruction, adaptation, and use, the project turns everyday objects into instruments for rethinking production, authorship, and sustainability.