Coffee Ground Pots
Kristina Vantasi
Mycelium
2024

Communications Design at Pratt Institute. As a designer, her work is grounded in the belief that design has the power to reveal and celebrate the intimate moments that shape our lives. She designs in hopes of uncovering the subtle connections between people and their environments while evoking emotions and sparking conversations. She is especially interested in storytelling, book design, and branding. Coming from an undergraduate background of fine art and photography, she enjoys using photography in relation to design to create strong visual language.

Coffee has become a part of the daily routine of many including myself and is used as a way to socialize. You hear sayings such as “Let's chat over a cup of coffee” or “I can’t function without my morning coffee”. As Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee per day, individuals and coffee shops have to incorporate ways of reusing coffee grounds in their daily routine. In hopes of limiting the amount of caffeine contaminating waterways and landfills I created a recipe for biodegradable plant pots made out of coffee ground waste, water, corn starch, and vinegar. When used properly coffee grounds can be used as compost because of the valuable nitrogen it adds which helps break down other organic matter and create nutrient-rich soil. As coffee waste decomposes, the nutrients will nourish the plant. Many acid loving plants such as blueberries, azaleas, jade plants, hydrangeas and vegetable crops such as carrots, cucumbers, carrots benefit from the nutrients from coffee grounds. The plant pots can be used for initial seed growth and to plant into soil.