Green Thumb Whimsy: Designer Colleen Jordan Creates 3D Printed Wearable Plant Series

Maker and designer Colleen Jordan has a very organic definition of the word handmade, and she has applied that in an inimitable 3D printed project that combines technology and plant life in a delightful way.

Plants are essential to our lives on earth. They bring us sustenance, quench our thirst, make oxygen, provide medicine, and support our earth. All of these items come together as the backbone for human life, but there is one simple fact about plants that we all enjoy on a daily basis: their quiet and noble beauty. Plants and flowers have long served as symbols of ceremony, greetings, gifts, and a way to say thank you or to express love and celebration. Plants beautify our lives — from the centerpiece on the dining room table to shaped outdoor shrubs — and now, from your bicycle handlebars or around your neck, thanks to Jordan.

Plants do their job for the planet on a large scale, but Jordan has made it her job to see that you enjoy them in a mobile, 3D printed form that you can enjoy as a planter made into a pendant for your elegant necklace, any part of your bicycle, or other creative places you might think to attach a planter to in helping you enjoy your day just a little more. As part of her ‘wearable planter series,’ Jordan originally created the 3D printed planters for Atlanta’s Sopo Bicycle Cooperative Art Bikes Show.

With a constant need to create, Jordan is an inspired artist who carries a notebook with her at all times so she can sketch and design ideas as they come to her. She is a graduate of Georgia Tech with a background in industrial design. When she is having a creative block, she enjoys getting outside to take a walk or a bike ride – and what could be a better accessory to your bike or arm or neck than a beautiful plant, Mother Nature’s handiwork and inspiration? While describing her creative process as ‘disjointed and linear,’ Jordan has certainly made a beautiful and pleasing design just perfect for the 3D printing medium.

To make this the 3D printed planted yourself, you can download it from Thingiverse for free, or you can purchase a printed 3D printed planter at Etsy for under $50.

Jordan creates the small, watertight vessels in modeling software, 3D prints them with a translucent 3D printed acrylic polymer, and then finishes them by hand. Jordan recommends using them with mosses and succulents. If you want to attach the planter to your bike, a 3mm elastic cord is recommended. The planters are available in a variety of shapes and colors.

Is this something that interests you for yourself or as a gift for jewelry or a bicycle accent? Share your thoughts with us in the 3D Printed Wearable Plant Series forum at 3DPB.com.