Ella Daniels

Why You Should Own A House Plant was created to be a fun and tactile way for people living in cities to be more interested in plants. As a plant lover how owns 14 plants (at least), I wanted to show the joys and possibilities of taking care of a plant. The format is an accordion book that can "grow" out to a single long sheet, paired with a heavyweight paper that makes the plants have a unique texture that can be touched. The illustrations were initially created on Adobe Illustrator and then developed on a polymer plate. This became a physical printable thin sheet of plastic that was used to print on the letterpress. Using traditional methods of moveable metal type along with contemporary printing practices on a Vandercook letterpress, this book was completely typeset and printed by hand. This is your sign to go buy a plant! 🪴

Here is the title and a couple of the spreads. I chose an accordian-style book and used a bone folder to engrave an ongoing line throughout the whole book. The line starts very geometric and architectural, and then grows softer and more plant-like. At the end, the line combines both geometric and natural lines, pairing both city and nature.

Here is the Illustrator file where I designed the house plants next to the final poster print. I made nine copies of this poster on the letterpress in addition to the 2 book copies.