The idea took root on a windowsill.
Seedling trays, soil mixes, handwritten notes on plant behaviour. Not a business plan — just curiosity turning into obsession. What does a herb need to thrive indoors? The question had no simple answer.
How NOUYI Came to Be
A story of obsession, sketches, and seedlings.
It started in a kitchen.
Not in a lab. Not in an office. Surrounded by dried herbs, glass jars, and open notebooks — someone asked a simple question: why can't we grow fresh herbs the way we cook, with intention and care, right at home?
01 — The Beginning
02 — The Design
Every great garden starts with a few lines on paper.
LED bar. Water reservoir. Plant capsules. The sketch came quickly — a frame that held everything a herb needs: light above, water below, space to breathe. Dimensions argued over coffee, revised a dozen times.
03 — Materials & Form
Oak uprights. Warm off-white body. The materials weren't chosen — they presented themselves. Alongside detailed drawings of the capsule assembly and water system, we built a moodboard of the world NOUYI would live in.
04 — The Seeds
We tested 24 herb varieties. Basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, chervil, coriander. Every substrate ratio recorded. Every germination window measured. Each plant taught us something we couldn't find in any textbook.
05 — The Measurements
Pod dimensions to the millimetre. Root depth. Substrate composition. Everything measured, everything questioned.
Photosynthesis doesn't care what time it is. We measured LED spectra at 2am, counting hours to the first true leaf, comparing light distances, logging everything.
06 — First Form
Printed in gray PLA. Rough, imperfect, wired by hand. Real seedlings growing inside a form we'd only dreamed about. The moment the idea became a thing.
07 — It Works
The first sample that didn't need an apology.
Basil, rosemary, thyme — growing together in a kitchen, under a warm LED bar, in a form we were proud of. The wooden frame. The clean lines. The herbs, simply thriving. We knew we had something.
08 — Refinement
Month after month of growing cycles. Subtle improvements. Better water flow. Better light distribution. Watching herbs thrive, season after season, on kitchen counters across our team's homes.
This is NOUYI.
Everything we learned — about herbs, about materials, about light and water and patience — is in every unit we make. Designed for your kitchen. Built to make you a better grower.