Belfast Community Plant Library – How The Idea Came About
The Belfast Community Plant Library is a collaborative initiative between ourselves Blick Shared Studios, Belfast Design Week and One Bite Design Studio (Hong Kong, Singapore and London). The project was inspired by an impromptu meeting between the two organisations in Hong Kong in 2024, where they discovered a shared set of values and a common vision for creating meaningful, plant-centred community spaces.
Grow Your Own Way
At the time, Blick Shared Studios and Belfast Design Week had recently completed Grow Your Own Way, a project that brought designers and gardeners together to explore how residents in Belfast’s Botanic and Holylands areas could be supported to grow their own food within the city. The project opened up a wider question: how might design help bring the benefits of nature closer to people living, working, studying and visiting Belfast?
Hong Kong 2024
The answer began to take shape during a trip to Hong Kong. While working on a design installation for the British Council’s Spark Festival 2024, we visited Alan from One Bite Design at his studio. Outside, on the street, we saw the Hong Kong Community Plant Library and loved the concept. It was an accessible, welcoming intervention that used plants to create new opportunities for interaction in the city.
We left the meeting inspired not only by the plant library itself, but by the possibilities it represented: a relatively simple design intervention capable of making a city greener, encouraging people to explore their neighbourhoods and creating unexpected points of connection. What began as an informal meeting became the starting point for a longer-term collaboration. The trip also left us inspired about the potential of working on more interactive design led activities for cultural events. Working on the installation showed us how design can transform cultural events from passive viewing events into active, community-driven experiences to deepen audience engagement.
2025 One Bite Visit To Belfast
In 2025, One Bite’s Alan and business partner Sarah visited Belfast to see around the city and visit some of the design led green projects including 9ft in Common and Brink! A Growing Story as well as a tour of the Linen Quarter. Exploring the similarities and differences between our cities and starting to thin about how we might work together in the future.
2025 Islands of Design Collaboration
We then went on to collaborate on the Islands of Design Talks and Workshop for Irish Design Week 2025, further developing our shared interests in design, community and place.
2026 Finally Belfast Community Plant Library Comes to Life
Then, in 2026, with support from Belfast City Council, the opportunity finally emerged to bring the Community Plant Library concept to Belfast. Phase 1 of the project will be at our next Design After Dark event on Culture Night (Friday 18th September) from 4pm – 10pm in Bankmore Square Belfast, where you can:
- See and interact with our plant library, bringing and taking away plants
- Share your plant stories and wishes and ideas for a greener Belfast
- Learn about how to care for and grow your own edible plants with our plant expert Jilly Dougan
- Learn how to make your own mini planters with Green: Remake
- Pick up a Belfast Plant Map and Zine, as well as some seeds and planting materials
- And much more
This is a free drop-in event, just pop by and say hello!
More About One Bite Design Hong Kong Plant Library
Onebite had come up with the idea for the Community Plant Library in 2021 as a collaborative platform to introduce native plants in Hong Kong. By collaborating with nearly 20 local shops in San Po Kong, a neighbourhood known for light industries and traditional retail shops, the library hoped to display, gather, and introduce plants to reinvigorate the community, and to discover the social and cultural value of a plant in urban context by using plants to initiate conversations and collect interesting information about the community network. The Community Plant Library encouraged local residents to walk around and get to know their community, offering the opportunity for fresh encounters and interactions in public spaces among plant lovers.
In the first part of the programme, onebite worked with 30 partner shops, ranging from snacks shops, herbal tea shops, and eateries to co-design and adopt “plant furniture”, using the power of flora and fauna to transform the look and mood of their interior spaces. The furniture was made with discarded wood materials gathered by Coutou Woodworking Studio from Nan Fung Group’s construction site. Based on a few prototypes, onebite and Coutou then customised the plant furniture based on requirements gathered from partner shops, making the design process to design a dual functional plant rack collaborative and insightful in understanding users’ needs.
In 2023 the second edition of Community Plant Library took place in Hong Kong in partnership with Partnerships Community Development (PCD). The location shifted to Sheung Wan and Sham Shui Po, a traditional residential neighbourhood with both new and traditional arts and cultural attractions such as bookshops, cafes, and art galleries.
Apart from retaining popular programmes in the inaugural round (2021) such as the roving plant clinic, the second round also invited groups of participants, comprising residents and others of all ages to join as plant librarians, mapping out the plants in the neighbourhood and designing wood furniture for potted plants through workshop and guided tour sessions. They were also involved in creating a large-scale Community Plant Map of Sheung Wan with well- known map illustrator, Maoshan Connie. they also invited local artists to lead plant-inspired art workshops, such as botanical storybook sharing and creation workshops led by artist Connie, Garlic Lamp Making workshop conducted by artist Tsang Tak-ping, and illustrator Ivy Wong’s botanical sketching workshop.
More Info On the Project
At the heart of the project will be an interactive design installation created by onebite Design Studio. Designed as a living, evolving space, the installation will invite participation from the public through an ongoing co-design process and during a dedicated community workshop. The structure will be sustainably manufactured by David Keys Woodworker using environmentally responsible materials.
The installation will be located in Bankmore Square during Culture Night on Friday 18 September. This public setting will encourage passersby to interact with and contribute to the project throughout the evening.
Visitors will be invited to bring their own plants and planters to add to the installation, share personal stories, photographs, and information connected to plants, or take home plants and plant-related knowledge gathered through the experience.
As part of Culture Night, a community co-design workshop will bring together designers, makers, volunteers, plant specialists, and local residents to collectively shape and build the installation. Participants will be encouraged to contribute local and native plants alongside stories and memories that reflect Belfast’s relationship with plant life and place.
Alongside the workshop, a drop-in Plant Clinic will support community connection, placemaking, and a sense of belonging. Local plant expert Jilly Dougan will share practical advice, offer plant care guidance, and help curate the placement of plants within the installation.
In the lead-up to the event, an online campaign will invite the public to submit stories, memories, and information about Belfast and its plant culture. We will work with a local illustrator to create a Belfast Community Plant Map that we will print and distribute during Culture Night. These contributions will also be shared digitally to promote the event at Culture Night and as part of the installation, creating an evolving archive of community voices and local plant knowledge.
