How salmon & sangria started a green revolution.
Some of the most inspiring inventions come at the most innocuous times.
In 2017, Just Vertical co-founders Conner Tidd and Kevin Jakiela were completing their Masters of Science at the University of Toronto. Bright eyed and full of enthusiasm, they hoped to equip themselves with the knowledge and connections to make a difference in the world.
But life rarely goes to script…
After working at a Big Agriculture company, Conner quickly learnt the realities of work at a large corporation. People wanted to know where their food came from. They wanted to know what it took to produce it. But making this easy and transparent for consumers at a large organization was impeded by bureaucracy and red-tape.
Kevin, on the other hand, spent the same time trying to grow food in the arctic, parking lots, and shipping containers. He witnessed first hand the amazing potential of vertical farming. He knew that with the right execution, this technology could be used to enable folks everywhere to grow their own food.
Enter the salmon and sangria.
Over a belated catch up lunch, the two friends stumbled on a revolutionary idea – employ the latest technology in vertical farming to personally drive change by empowering people to grow their own food, in their own houses, year round.
So why the heck would you start building indoor gardens?
Environment
Staring down the barrel of climate change can be intimidating. We face the challenge of a generation – how to feed a growing population while reducing an over-reliance on finite natural resources.
Our planet is at breaking point. But ultimately, making meaningful change at an individual level is a challenge. We all try our best to help, but even the most cost conscious or environmentally careful people among us end up wasting food sometimes.
Produce
And what about flavour and nutrition? Even the best chefs among us can’t tease flavour out of overpriced grocery store produce. Much of the produce we buy is picked before it’s ripe. It often travels thousands of miles to reach our grocery stores. The significant degradation in nutritional value and flavour is impacting everyone’s cooking and wellbeing (yep, even yours).
Design
Design matters. Just being able to grow your own food isn’t enough. In a world where what we consume represents who we are, ignoring the imperative of beautiful design is impossible.
Yet most indoor farming technology does just that – ugly indoor gardens built with low quality materials and lower design standards.
To help drive real environmental change, you need a product that people love. With a product people really care about, you increase your ability to change the world at a huge scale.
So what the heck is Just Vertical?
Just Vertical tries to answer the above problems (and more). We’ve married plant science with industrial design to enable indoor growers in every household (small or large) across the world to make a positive impact on the environment by growing and consuming their own, home-grown food.
Making real, meaningful change to a planet at breaking point isn’t a dream anymore. Cooking food with real flavour is within reach. Having an indoor garden that you love that fits into your lifestyle, your decor, and your home is now a reality.
Just Vertical builds furniture that feeds you
Meet AEVA & EVE.
AEVA.
The original Just Vertical indoor garden. A statement piece of sustainable green furniture that grows herbs, vegetables, and flowers indoors year-round for your entire household.
EVE.
The newest addition to the Just Vertical family. Space-sensitive green furniture designed to grow food year round and fit into every home and every lifestyle.
What the (green) future holds.
There are more than 1000 Just Vertical growers in the world today. But we’re not stopping there…
Imagine a world where our planet’s largest farmer doesn’t own a single piece of farmland. Each indoor garden we build is designed to be easy to use, spark a sense of joy, and bring us closer to producing more high-quality, amazing tasting food for everyone in the world to consume – all without owning a single piece of land.
