Boomsi comes from imagining other possible futures in food equity and sustainability through play. It’s one of many ways to envision a future where more adults are educated to operate in a system that supports sustainability—not just ecological, but also economic, food-related, and emotional.I have very vivid memories from my childhood that impacted me a lot. Boomsi comes from my childhood fascination with growth and nature, aiming to teach children about sustainability through design.

Boomsi is the outcome of one of many ways to envision a future where more adults are educated to operate in a system that supports sustainability—not just ecological, but also economic, food-related, and emotional. I think children are important people who will eventually become adults, because unlearning as adults has been much harder than if we had been taught as children that wealth does indeed grow on trees, that this growth is naturally finite, and that our short-term decisions impact the medium and long term.

This project is about making learning about permaculture part of a game. Just like play is crucial in childhood, it’s also important in the design we create to teach and grow. So, when I grew up, I wanted to take that simple idea and make it even more special. I thought giving it a face and making an object dedicated to such a simple experiment would make the play even more interesting and beautiful.

This makes it a compact and accessible representation of a sustainable ecosystem that teaches children the basics of permaculture in a simple and manageable way. Studies show that cuteness triggers our natural instinct to care. When you give a child the chance to care for another living thing that smiles at them, they are more likely to continue caring for it in the future. But it is also a practical example for us designers of how design can teach children to connect with nature, understand where their food comes from, learn about the growth cycle, and connect with themselves. Boomsi has evolved along with my growth as a designer and has been nourished by my experiences and reflections as a human who eats. (This experiment started as a drawing on a page eight years ago and is still ongoing.)

Boomsi is an hydroponic gardening system for kids between 5 -12 y/o. An autonomous irrigation system creates a microclimate inside the piece allowing the seedling to be warm and safe. Water is put in the base first, and Boomsi is placed in a strategic spot in the house where it receives light and warmth. The evaporated water condenses on the dome and falls onto the seedbed, ensuring ideal conditions for moisture and temperature.

Back in Colombia, my young neighbors and I recently experimented with a 3D-printed prototype made of translucent PLA material. Boomsi made documenting the growth of seedlings easy and fun, exceeding expectations. During testing, we used birdseeds which grew within just 3-5 days. Observing the „rain“ effect inside Boomsi was fascinating; we rarely touched it, only to peek inside.

Boomsi not only teaches children how to care for plants but also how to care about the origin of their food. If we understand from a young age where our food comes from, we can imagine a future where we are all more aware and responsible towards the earth. Boomsi is a small but powerful way to plant seeds for a more sustainable future, where children grow up understanding that food doesn’t just come from a store, but from nature.The future is not written and depends on our ability to imagine and design new systems that help us thrive in balance with the world around us.Design is not just to solve practical problems; it’s to inspire, tell stories, and project possible futures. That’s where the real magic of what we do as designers lies.