Shoppers at Zerim-Liftan’s specialty store will never know what layout design to expect, as it is modular and ever-changing.
The modular design concept – which is sustainable as it saves the resources that would otherwise be used to create multiple objects from scratch – has been applied to all kinds of designs. It has been used to create furniture (in the form of a loop chair that can be used twelve different ways) and Daniela Bekerman’s “ze or ze” (“this or that”) shoes with adjustable heels for different looks. Yet it is rare to see designs that are doubly sustainable by being both modular and upcycled.
Which is what Israeli design Studio 200404 has done in creating the store design for 24/7 Zerim-Liftan flowers and gourmet shop.
Using green plastic milk crates and wooden boxes collected from nearby businesses, the shop’s furnishings are completely repurposed and the layout can be constantly reinvented without consuming additional resources.
Aesthetically, the color of the green boxes serves as a perfect complement to the greenery of the flowers sold in the shop. Many of the wooden boxes have been painted green as well to create visual harmony.
Studio 200404 boasts that the layout of the store “can be rearranged in just a few minutes”, and that flexible do-it-yourself attitude is reflected in the practices of the shop as well. The 24/7 shop is completely self-service and customers are trusted to pay the proper amount for their goods using a credit card machine on site.
As Zerim-Liftan introduces new products, the display easily changes as well. Besides flowers, the shop also sells gourmet food items such as homemade chocolates, coffee, and hand crafted gift boxes.
As of 2023 the site’s website was down.
Read more about modular design:
Modular Toaster Design Makes Toast for the Long Haul
Change Your Shoes With the Click of a Heel
Modular Loop Chair Serves a Twelve-Fold Function
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Tnuva is an Israeli dairy company, so I’m not sure if they would ship their boxes to the US. You could try though! Or better yet, get a local plastic dairy carton!
Find local plastic crates sounds like the best idea to me.
Where can I score these boxes from Tnuva in the US? Searched everywhere!!
I love it… and so nearly exceptional in soul and concept -though they fell at the last hurdle. Green products, then on the shop floor in a point of sale unit, perhaps the most ‘ungreen’ branded / consumer product ever created – ‘fresh’ as it is… Evian is the most ridiculous waste of energy resources in the environment… bottled water should be dealt with before worrying about c02 from airplanes – I need to travel on business… I want to drink Evian because there’s a stupid part of me that gets sucked into its branding ‘bs’… but I know deep down a water filter will do me much better. Funny how I care about water one minute then drink and smoke the next.