Lois Walpole has developed a way to harvest a willow coat hanger. She grafted the hanger and sawed from a two-year-old plant. The coathanger and the wine rack (both can be bought online in kits) are part of her “grown home” ongoing research that aims at demonstrating that a functional product can be grown.

Planted, nurtured, harvested, used and finally composted all in one location these wooden products have used no fossil fuels in their production and have had only a beneficial effect on the environment in which they are “manufactured.”

Her grown home pieces and the works of other arborsculptors will be on show from March 25th at the Growing Village of the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan.

Via Arborsmith.

Related: robots at the world expo 2005.