OUTSIDE INSIDE
Mazu comes from the Sino-Chinese language, and is the name of a young Belgian firm in the indoor/outdoor sector.
Mood lighting for your planter-grown bushes and trees. Forget staked spotlights. Out-of-the-box thinking has led to inside-the-planter integrated uplights. The highlight at the Furniture Fair goes one step further: the Oyster.
The boundaries between indoors and outdoors continue to blur. We now have outdoor lounge furniture, outdoor kitchens and showers, outdoor rugs, decoration and mood lighting. A dark garden deserves more than merely functional light. Spotlights illuminate trees and shrubs planted both in the soil and in XXL-planters. The next level of stake spotlights are ground spotlights – for in the garden. For the outdoor furniture, spotlights on stakes with cables are, sorry were, the only alternative. But there had to be a better way. A different way of lighting. Mazu came up with the Ambient Planters: both decorative and functional! The lighting is integrated into the upper rim of the planter, without fixtures and cables on the soil. The beam of light shines from the base of the trunk to the top of the tree, the plant ‘gives’ 270 degrees of light. All that remains is that single power cable outside the pot, leading to the power hub.
All Ambient Planters are ‘Handmade in Europe’. The assembly is done by people for whom it is a challenge to access the labour market, in a social workplace. Mazu has two distinct lines. The Luxury Planters are made of recycled aluminium, with a coloured finish in Powdura® ECO. A powder coating with components of recycled plastic (rPlastic), frequently used in the yachting world. This says enough about the quality! The Premium Planters are fashioned from oxidised Corten steel, so already have a rust-coloured patina.
Decoration is one thing, but practical accessories are also part of the mix. Protective caps and wheels beneath the planter. An insulating foam insert inside the planter protects the roots from extreme weather. A unique option is the connection point for an automatic irrigation system. In this segment, this is not a luxury that should be overlooked.
We now come to the Sino-Chinese name. In Japanese, Mazu means ‘first, the first’, alluding to the company’s innovative roots, the planter concept. In Chinese, Mazu refers to the mythological sea goddess, protector of human life at sea. In that sense, you can associate Mazu with water, sunlight, human life, living foliage,…. This is why the collections are given names like Nautilus. The Oyster is a truly remarkable sight! A subtle line of light encircles the Planter, with the uplighter shining above it.
