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Clovy

Redefining the Premium Espresso Experience

Client

Hexagro Urban Farming Srl.

Year

2024

Role

Head of Product & Lead Design

Website

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/809129145/clovy-learn-to-grow-food-with-this-smart-vertical-garden

Clovy IoT Vertical Garden by Frugal Studio

Led the end-to-end development and global launch via crowdfunding campaign of Clovy, a modular IoT-enabled vertical farming system and successfully achieved the goal.

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As Head of Product, I managed multidisciplinary teams to deliver a hardware-software ecosystem that allows the modular integration of different and new solutions to improve the functionalities and UX.

The Challenge
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Urban populations face significant barriers to growing their own food: lack of space, lack of technical knowledge, and the complexity of maintaining indoor plants. The mission was to design a professional-grade vertical farming solution that was "plug-and-play" enough for anyone, anywhere, to use, while maintaining a strictly sustainable and circular footprint.

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The Strategy

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  • Modular Product Architecture: Developed a scalable design that allows users to expand their gardens based on space and needs.

  • IoT-Driven Simplicity: Integrated automated irrigation and water-level sensors to remove the "guesswork" from urban farming.

  • Circular Material Innovation: Positioned the product in the premium eco-market by utilizing 100% recycled plastics and bio-composites derived from agricultural waste (wood chips and rice shells).

  • HaaS (Hardware-as-a-Service) Potential: Bridged the physical product with a digital AI assistant, "Hexbee," to provide long-term agronomic support and value.

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The Process

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  • Design & Engineering: Led the industrial design of the modular vases and the core IoT module, focusing on Design for Manufacturing (DfM) to scale production in Italy.

  • Ecosystem Development: Directed the UI/UX design of the Hexagro App, ensuring a seamless connection between hardware sensors and user notifications.

  • Crowdfunding & Validation: Spearheaded the product presentation for successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns, validating market demand and refining the value proposition based on early backer feedback.

  • Supply Chain Management: Established international supply chains to support distribution across the EU and US markets.

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The Result

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  • Market Success: Successfully commercialized three connected hardware lines and two software platforms.

  • Global Recognition: Awarded worldwide for innovativeness, cutting-edge eco-design, and circular economy approach.

  • Social Impact: Integrated a 1-for-1 social impact model where each user registered on the app supports the installation of vertical gardens for social projects in Colombia through Siembra Vertical.

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Project Details
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