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Author Archives jwilson

Planters add Life to Corporate Environments

The buildings of large corporate organisations tend to be constructed from huge sheets of metal, glass and brick and as a result can seem rather imposing and even daunting to anyone entering the environment who doesn’t work there. But one way to make it a friendlier place and to brighten up a huge lobby or waiting area for visitors is to install dazzling galvanized steel planters with plenty of bright, natural greenery.

This won’t only help to enliven the area for your visitors though, your staff are bound to appreciate it too. In fact it’s been proven time and time again that installing plants and flowers in a work environment can enhance staff morale. Not only are steel or coloured planters with greenery nice to look at, and remind everyone of the nature and the outdoors, but they’re also beneficial for health. This is because they can clear the air of toxins, help with humidity and provide a nicer atmosphere all round.

And we’re not the only ones who think so. Since the appointment of the Coalition government in 2010 the Ministry of Defence has spent more than £14,000 on pot plants and the Department of Health nearly £12,400 in just 10 months – according to an article in The Guardian newspaper.

The British Council for Offices – an organization for promoting workplace design and improving productivity – agrees that plants are an asset in a corporate environment. Its director of research Jenny MacDonnell said: “Having plants in offices is a good thing. It makes people more productive, happier, reduces stress, and helps reduce dust particles in the air.”

Many designers in fact believe galvanised steel planters with greenery are no longer an afterthought to office design rather they are very much an integral part of it. Architect Kate Mason, for instance, pointed to the number of indoor gardens in London’s The Shard and believes the trend is for the most part down to a “blurring of boundaries between home and work.”

Other benefits of using steel planters in a corporate environment include:

+ Higher productivity

Research has shown that employees in an environment with planters and greenery get higher levels of work done and achieve more. This is because it’s believed plants have a calming effect which in turn aids focus and concentration.

+ Reduced Absenteeism

The health benefits of plants (eliminating toxins from the air) can alleviate the symptoms of so-called sick building syndrome. They also make the traditionally stuffy work environment a more pleasant place to work in by improving humidity levels.

+ Extending corporate image

This is another benefit of using planters in large corporate offices – for branding purposes. For instance cubed planters can be developed in corporate colours and with logos, or particular wording to reinforce a campaign or theme.

To look at the design and style of impressive galvanised steel planters available today take a look at Precious Designs. Planters are available in corporate colours and tailored wording or logos can be added.

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Growing vegetables in garden planters

Do you think growing vegetables needs a huge plot of land or an allotment? Think again, because you don’t actually need very much space to grow fantastic vegetables. Using garden planters for your vegetables can be a big advantage, because you can move them inside if a late frost is forecast, move them into the sunshine if you’ve got your placing wrong, and hide them away when they’ve finished and/or you are bored of looking at them!
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Interior Design Big Ideas – why don’t designers use plants and garden planters more?

We were looking at www.interiordesign.net’s 100 Big Ideas issue recently, to see how designers and architects are using garden planters, and particularly metal planters.  But to our surprise, none of the top 50 Big Ideas really seem to include plants or planters at all!  And that set us wondering why interior designers and architects don’t seem to want to make more use of garden planters in their work.  After all, we’ve discussed before that having plants around not only looks good, but can also make us feel good.

And although we really don’t know the answer to the question, we decided to look at some of the ideas, and consider how we would have used our metal planters to enhance them even further.

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Buy British: metal garden planters designed and made in Great Britain

At Precious Design, we’re very proud that all our metal planters, whether stainless steel, coated steel, or galvanised steel, are designed and manufactured in Great Britain.

Our expertise in designing, cutting and manufacturing steel products has been built up over many years of working with sheet metal at our factory in Nottingham.   Our plant list is extensive and includes high quality laser cutting and CNC folding machines.
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Our Favourite Airport First Class Lounges

Planters can, of course, enhance any environment – their greenery can soften harsh dark or even abstract décor while it can also enhance any plain façade. Then again, planters can also introduce an alternative colour source into a monotone minimalist look and the new trend for bright neon coloured planters brings dull corners out of themselves, making them positively glow.

So we’re surprised designers don’t use galvanized steel planters even more when it comes to creating commercial public spaces. One design area that seems to be divided as to their use is that of the upmarket airport first class and business lounge. These are, after all, the locations which entertain passengers travelling via some of the world’s largest and best-known airlines such as Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Virgin and British Airways.
We based our knowledge on an article by top American news agency CNN of what they considered the Top 10 airport business lounges in the world. Viewing the photographs we noticed many of the lounges had coloured planters and greenery. In fact the Quantas Lounge at Australia’s Sydney International Airport seems to have gone to extremes and looks like it houses an entire botanical gardens. It would have been much easier maintenance-wise for their poor staff to have installed a few strategically placed planters. That way the planters would have provided a dual purpose of adding to an area where everything appears to be white and grey. And yes, it’s sunny there, we know, but another colour wouldn’t have upset the balance too much we reckon.

Other airport lounges, such as the first class lounge at Abu Dhabi could definitely have done with some greenery to relieve the drabness of all that beige. Alternatively a few large glossy black planters with sand and smooth stones would have chimed in nicely with the surroundings.

Now we do like the modern, dynamic look of Lufthansa’s bright orange lounge at Frankfurt International Airport. That Satsuma shade cheers us up instantly, certainly no blandness there. However, we definitely reckon it could do with a glossy orange planter or two to take away the vastness of all that brown wooden flooring.

And the ones we like? Look how those sophisticated and smart silver steel planters with their refreshing greenery really blend in with the glass walls and roof in the Swiss Air Lounge at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg. It has a sleekness about it which isn’t too business-like.

Another first class airport lounge design we appreciate is the simplicity of the three planters in the foreground at Qatar Airways Premium Terminal at Doha International Airport. The planter displays aren’t huge but image what the lounge would look like if they weren’t there – it would seem almost bereft. Note the two large white planters with greenery in the background too.

Design at the ultra-modern Finnair Lounge in Helsinki Airport shows how planters (spot the greenery in the background of the photo) can fit in with the clean aesthetic lines of Finnish and Nordic furniture too.

You can see the full range of planters available from our online store Precious Design.

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Liven up your Living Space and Beyond With Designed Planters

 
For many of us the garden is an extension of the sitting room (especially if you have large French Windows). Opening up those windows makes our garden and living room blend together, giving us the impression of more space and the garden being part of our home. It’s understandable then that we want to have lovely ‘designer’ elements in there along with the roses, clematis and ferns.
 
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Add More Glamour to A Luxury Hotel

For most of us, the whole idea of heading off to a trendy five star or boutique hotel is to be pampered and spoiled. That means spending the weekend – or longer if we’re lucky – nestling in the lap of luxury and enjoying our surroundings.

We want our hotel to be an inspiring yet restful oasis in our in normal rather hectic lives. One way to introduce tranquillity into an environment is provide plenty of greenery and living elements in the form of planters.
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Using Planters as Interior Design

 
We’re pretty sure here at Precious Design that we don’t really have to point out the benefits of having living plants in your home. That’s because for years now researchers have been enthusing about how flowers, bushes and miniature trees indoors purify the air we breathe. Just one plant in a room can actually be powerful enough to single-handedly remove the toxins emitted from the likes of paint, furniture and even make-up.

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Preparing Your Planters For Growth

 
Much as we wish they would, beautiful planter displays don’t happen overnight. There’s usually a lot of planning gone into them beforehand such as which flowers or plants would look best in particular locations, how much sunlight they’ll pick up and what type of soil they’ll fare best with etc.
Here we’ll take you through some preliminaries to make sure you get the best from your garden planters purchase at Precious Design.
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