ORTO PERPETUO.

Orto Perpetuo is an indoor hydroponic garden designed to produce fruit and vegetables year-round within a domestic setting. It is conceived as a contemporary edible garden that migrates from the countryside to the city, adapting to indoor life through soilless cultivation methods supported by artificial lighting.

The project combines ELIOOO, a hydroponic system developed from IKEA containers by Antonio Scarponi, with Quadra, a 14W LED grow light produced by Bulbo. The system is designed to host dwarf vegetable varieties suitable for pot cultivation, developed in collaboration with Piccolo Vegs for Pots.
Orto Perpetuo is conceived as a modular edible garden measuring approximately 65 × 95 cm, capable of growing up to 24 plants simultaneously while consuming less than 50 watts of power. For Fuorisalone 2014, the project was presented in an expanded two-square-meter configuration.

Beyond its technical function, Orto Perpetuo operates as a reflection on the visual and material culture of vegetable gardens. Historically, gardens have hosted multiple plant species growing side by side, generating recognizable chromatic and textural patterns. This rhythmic coexistence—both ancient and continuously renewed—is translated into a domestic landscape, where cultivation becomes simultaneously productive, aesthetic, and spatial.

Mediate - The project mediates agricultural knowledge and cultivation techniques into the domestic sphere, translating professional and rural practices into accessible, small-scale systems.

Expose - Orto Perpetuo exposes the material, chromatic, and energetic conditions of food production, making visible processes that are typically hidden behind industrial supply chains.

Activate - The project activates inhabitants as growers, engaging them in continuous care, observation, and interaction with living systems within everyday domestic space.