#TROPICOOL for Urban Jungle Bloggers - Summer 2017

This is plant.furniture’s first themed blog post for Urban Jungle Bloggers (indeed it is also our first ever blog post ever!).

Urban Jungle Bloggers brings together plant lovers from across the web and sets a challenge each season to create a blog post around a specific theme.

To coincide with the arrival of summer in the northern hemisphere the challenge this time is to create a ‘Tropicool’ look suggestive of an exotic holiday resort - so here we go!

To achieve this look we have gone big on bamboo furniture, with three bamboo plant stands, a bamboo chair and a bamboo spiral table.

These vintage pieces are likely to have been inspired by the designs of Franco Albini, who famously merged traditional Italian crafts, such as wicker, with the modernist aesthetic of the 1960s and 70s. Perhaps the most famous of these designs is the 'Lobster Pot' ottoman, which was inspired by the pots used by the fishermen of a local village.

The plants in the bamboo stands tend towards the exotic, with the two smaller stands displaying a tradescantia fluminensis (inch plant) and an asparagus densiflorus (emerald fern) and the larger one showing off a philodendron xanadu.

Of course we are also using this as a the chance to display some of our favourite vintage planters that can help convey the tropical vibe.

First up, we have a planter by Scheurich which is a great example of the well-known 'Lora' pattern, but with mustard-coloured 'flames' rather than the more familiar red. It is pictured with a lush looking begonia that has beautiful red tinge to the leaves.

Next we have a black and red planter from an unknown manufacturer (pictured on the left of the table) that was chosen because of the striking contrast with the bright green leaves of the ever-popular pilea peperomioides (Chinese money plant/pancake plant).

And, finally we have a pot by Dumler & Breiden which we love because of the way the glossy orange and red stripe stands out against the matte grey. Here it is pictured with a showy codiaeum variegatum (garden croton) that actually struggles to compete with the bright colours of the pot!