Why Interior Designers are Turning to Moss Walls to Achieve Holistic Design
Photo Credit: Sean T. Smith
Creating harmony in our indoor environments is not a new design trend. Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese practice that uses interior design to create a balance between the natural world. So, when interior designers take an intentionally holistic approach to design, it is important to understand that this is not a new concept. Gala Magriña, Principal and Founder of Gala Magriña Design, explains interior design as the marriage of beauty and function. Whereas, holistic interior design goes a step further and acknowledges how the physical world affects us in different ways. Magriña explains holistic design answers the question, “what are some of the things that can affect us and that we can leverage to have better well-being when we're in our spaces?”
Holistic interior design takes into consideration how certain shapes and colors can affect the vibe and mood in the room. Magriña explains how “We look at the existing energy within a space and understand that spaces hold on to old energy. We recommend doing space clearings and then infusing the space with intention. I think the idea of ritual has been lost in the very chaotic lives that we lead.” According to Magriña, energy is a big part of holistic design, “A ritual is taking a second, to pause and put intention on something. And we know, energetically speaking, that when you put energy into something it grows and it comes to life. When we take the time to do that with our spaces we infuse them with good energy.”
Another part of holistic interior design is exposure to nature and biophilia. With half of our global population living in cities, and that figure is expected to rise, it is important to have access to nature and bring that into our spaces. Magriña explains, “As a holistic interior designer, what we're going to try and do is bring natural light in and bring nature in so that our clients can get that hit of nature and get that natural boost. Other elements include working with sustainable materials and nature. By doing things like that, we're giving back to the Earth and we are saying thank you, thank you for taking care of us, we're going to take care of you, which I think is lost with the fast pace of things in life today.”
How Moss Walls Achieve Holistic Design
Urbanstrong and Gala Magriña partnered together to bring holistic design into Manhattan office spaces. Magriña explains, “We love working with Urbanstrong because it feels like a partnership, it's very collaborative. We work together and decide what colors, and what style we want. It's how we like to work with our vendors, vendors, as friends and vendors as collaborators.”
Biophilia refers to an innate human instinct to connect with nature. Biophilic design encourages this connection between humans and nature. This connection in turn promotes physical and mental well-being. There are fourteen categories of biophilic design, one of them is incorporating plants indoors. Preserved moss walls are an easy way to achieve biophilia by bringing nature into the space. Urbanstrong’s mosses are preserved in an innovative and eco-friendly way using 100% natural oils and food dye. This allows the plants to maintain their authenticity without the need for maintenance.
Photo Credit: Sean T. Smith
Moss walls are a cheaper, low-maintenance alternative to living walls. Magriña explains, “Our clients love all kinds of plant walls. They're really happy with it, they think it's so cool that they don't have to water it or take care of it. And this seems like a no-brainer.” It is also a better solution than potted plants, “we get so many requests to replace plants that died, they couldn't be taken care of. As beautiful as real-live plants are, preserved moss, especially for office spaces, is just perfect, because it's so low maintenance, and it gives you that punch, that hit of nature, it even has a nice smell to it. It's just perfect for commercial projects.” Urbanstrong designs customized moss wall projects to meet desired themes, colors, shapes, and even logo and branding options.
