Here’s a lovely import that’s been popping up all over the green design blogosphere over the past few days: Babylone, an air-purifying pendant lamp/planter from Greenworks, a Stockholm-based “living furniture” firm with the aim to “bring the outdoors indoors.”

 

At first glance, I can’t help but be reminded of the spider plant-in-a-macramé-hanging-basket craze of the 1970s gone modern terrarium, but Babylone is really so much more. Designed by Alexis Tricoire, it’s a functional plexi-glass globe lamp that pulls double-duty as a humidifier and air purifier when filled with certain species of indoor houseplants.

 

Five generous openings in the 50-centimeter spherical lamp allow for easy access to the plants and let them to drape and dangle freely just like those aforementioned hanging macramé baskets so popular 30-plus years ago. The bottom of the lamp is filled with a layer of low-mess, low-maintenance pumice stone instead of traditional soil. According to Greenworks, the pumice is excellent at retaining water and contains beneficial minerals and mico-nutrients. This means you don’t have to haul out a ladder or stand on your dining room table twice a week to water your lamp (Greenworks recommends tending to your lamp once every three weeks). Added bonus: unlike soil, pumice is available in colors other than “brown” so you can get all match-y with this flora-filled beauty.

 

TreeHugger’s write-up of the Babylone makes it sound like the it’s geared exclusively for use in office spaces, but I think it would make a lovely addition to the home as well, so long as ANDREA doesn't get too jealous.