The Counterstand and Glow Lamp

With the introduction of the Farmstand and Farmstand Nook, Lettuce Grow allows anyone to grow their own healthy, fresh food, regardless of the size of their home, access to direct sun, or a green thumb. The Farmstands also bring design to a product space littered with clever but inelegant solutions. With the Counterstand, they have made harvesting fresh food even more accessible. The size and price make the Counterstand a perfect entry point to growing fresh herbs and greens and it is also a beautiful addition to your home. Bring life to your kitchen with healthy plants and create a fresh, edible centerpiece; have fresh herbs available for any need, get started on or expand your at-home farm. 

The Counterstand is a beautiful borosilicate glass vase paired with a cup to hold your Lettuce Grow seedlings. The size and form of the vase and cup have been carefully designed to optimize plant health, providing enough water and nutrients to keep the plants growing through the critical first couple weeks of growth. Pump worked closely with Lettuce Grow, designer Pip Tompkin, and the manufacturer to solve a number of challenges including inherent manufacturing challenges for glass forms. For high volume low mix products, Soda Lime glass can be formed into shapes using a blow molding process. To achieve the delicate wall, optical clarity, and the lower volume, higher mix Counterstand, we opted for a borosilicate tube forming process. This process (also used to make scientific glassware) involves heating and turning a pre-formed and pre-colored glass tube along its axis and creating  the desired shape by pushing and pulling radially with specialized tools. The color selected for the Counterstand allows users to observe the mystery of plant growth, while keeping UV light out and slowing down the growth of algae.

The Glow Lamp is a lightweight crafted grow light but also a design piece that enhances, rather than detracts, from the beauty of the plants and glass. Pump developed several rounds of prototype printed circuit boards to find the perfect balance between light output, power, and spectrum. As with all Lettuce Grow’s lights, the Glow Lamp provides an appealing light that feels appropriate in the home while giving plants the photosynthetic energy they need to thrive. To reduce shipping volume and ensure the lamp reaches users intact, Pump designed the Glow Lamp to ship partly assembled, and be easily put together in a matter of minutes without tools.

Our involvement in the project spanned the early stages of concept development, design evolution, testing, and production support. We are thrilled to see fresh, healthy, homegrown food brought to more households, and excited to see what the future of countertop farming will look like.