Carmel Edry

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The Tomato-Growing Journey

An interactive book and growing kit that teaches children where their food comes from — and why it matters.

Year
2024
Role
Concept · Design · Team Project
Category
Education · Inclusive Design · Sustainability
The Tomato-Growing Journey

Context

Israel produces roughly 2.4 million tons of food waste each year — about a third of its food output. The largest opportunity to change that isn’t a campaign or an app; it’s how the next generation learns about where their food comes from.

Developed in the Design Strategies course under Dina Shahar, the project asked: how do you teach a primary-school child about the lifecycle of fruits and vegetables — and the energy and care involved in growing them — in a way that earns their curiosity rather than lectures at them?

Process

  1. 01

    Bottom-Up educational research: a learning approach that starts from the smallest tangible step and layers up. We focused on a single fruit — the tomato — as a teaching vehicle that can be transferred to any other produce later.

  2. 02

    Concept: an interactive book paired with a flat-pack growing kit. The child reads, prepares the soil, plants the seed, and follows the book as the plant grows. Genderless tone of voice; minimal illustration; clear hierarchy.

  3. 03

    Producing the artifact: book layout, illustrations, packaging engineering, and a prototype kit. Brand identity developed under the name G-RAW.

The white tomato carrier with circular openings revealing the red tomatoes inside
Packaging — a window onto the produce, a handle for the child.
The book opened to its planting instruction spread, beside a terracotta pot of soil and fresh tomatoes
The book in use — opened to the “preparing the soil” spread.
Flat-lay of the kit components: packaging template, pot with soil, fresh tomatoes
The kit, unpacked — packaging, pot, soil, seed.
Detail of an interior spread of the book — bottom-up educational layout
A spread from the book — bottom-up, step-by-step.

Outcome

A small interactive system that teaches the value of the produce before introducing the concept of waste. Designed to scale: the format works for any fruit or vegetable that grows from a seed.

Next project

Urban Rest Corner →