For Stephanie Carlson Miller, her new Indiana Design Center showroom in Carmel gives proper space to display the work of her company.
Great GrowINs’ showroom features a working design space along with a retail storefront that sells living walls, plants and containers.
“We started our business in 2016 with the idea we were going to build vertical gardens and teach people how to farm their own food and just bring greenery into spaces that were smaller because we have so many apartments in Carmel,” Miller said. “It kind of evolved into learning more about biophilic design, which has been a trend in the last 10 years of adding more greenery to workspaces, homes, schools and hospitals. It’s a way to make places more pleasing for people and healthier environments.”
A 1983 Carmel High School graduate, Miller lived in Carmel most of her life before moving to Westfield four years ago for more space to create.
“One of the reasons is we need more space because we were building these huge moss walls,” Miller said. “We were building them in our kitchen and said, ‘We can’t do this any more.’ We moved to Westfield and we have seven acres, so we build all our large pieces in our workshop there.”
Miller said biologist E.O. Wilson’s biophilia hypothesis study showed that since people spend 95 percent of their time indoors at work, bringing nature inside allowed those people to be healthier and more productive.
“Plants give oxygen, we give carbon dioxide and so it’s a win-win for both,” Miller said. “Plants love our toxins and we love their oxygen. It keeps us happier, healthier and more productive.”
Miller said her business is probably the first biophilic design firm that totally focuses on bringing nature into indoor spaces.
Great GrowINs previously had a smaller space in Carmel but needed to move after a dumpster fire burned all of the storage area.
“When we had to rebuild, we couldn’t have customers in, so we moved to the Indiana Design Center,” Miller said. “We’ll most likely stay because we have so much more room now. We can display so much more of our living wall, mobile privacy units, moss walls, planters and plants.”
The space in the IDC is approximately one thousand square feet.
For more, visit greatgrowins.com.
