bokashi Soil factory
The Bokashi Soil Factory is an all-in-one home soil amendment solution that allows users to create ready-to-use soil in their own home. Through the Bokashi Method, all organic waste, including meat scraps, bones, and egg shells can be broken down and turned into a nutrient rich soil for plants indoors or in gardens.
The product features two compartments; the top being the Bokashi compost bin, and the bottom being the soil factory. By bringing them together into one product, the Bokashi Soil Factory aims to make composting easy, approachable, and elegant.
Bokashi Composting
“Bokashi”, which loosely translates to “fermented organic matter” in Japanese, is the process of fermenting organic waste with the use of EM (Effective Microorganisms) over a period of time. This produces a nutrient rich soil amendment that has been shown to produce nutritionally denser foods, higher yields and has a smaller carbon footprint than other composting methods.
Preliminary Research
Although bokashi composting has only recently become a popular trend within the gardening and green-living community, many studies have been conducted to understand the benefits of bokashi, in comparison to other methods of compost. Through studying academic journals, independent websites and forums, information was gathered to create assumptions that would aid in starting the idea generation process.
Concept Exploration & Generation
The original concept of compost tea was one that seemed interesting to explore. To help focus on the aspects of the product that needed to be prioritized, a PDS (Product Design Specification) chart was made. After reflecting upon the PDS, I realized that creating an all-in-one product may not be a feasible design direction with current technology, and with the desired attributes I wanted to include. I decided to change my direction from traditional composting and compost tea, after conducting research into the feasibility of Bokashi Composting. Many bokashi buckets do not offer any more benefits to the user than if they were to make their own container at home. Comparing my PDS to the current method of Bokashi, there is opportunity to improve upon the ease of use, the cost and the potential for modularity.
Empathetic Testing
To understand the process of bokashi composting first hand, I decided to create my own container and soil factory from scratch. Through this process, I experienced pain points with the current method and gained potential insights into the possibilities of merging the two processes. This process took a total of 5-6 weeks.
Idea Generation + Prototyping
Following empathetic testing, I began generating ideas again with the insights learned. I decided to approach the design process with a function focused approached as I felt that it would suit my target demographic of the “environmentally conscious” the most. The key features I wanted to focus the most on was the transfer of the waste from the top compartment to the bottom compartment and the compression of the organic matter during the fermentation process.
Final Design
The aesthetic appearance of the Bokashi Soil Factory was inspired by current trends in the market and in interior design. The simple, clean form and contrasting metal bars allows the product to enhance a living space as home decor, but also functionally as a soil amendment solution.
Target Demographic
This product was designed with 3 key demographic characteristics in mind:
Use Cycle
The main focus of the Bokashi Soil Factory was to streamline the process of making soil from Bokashi ferment. Below is the use cycle depicting how the product creates an enhanced user experience that eliminates the pain points of the existing Bokashi to soil process.
