foliage survival kit

Even though that picture of Beijing's giant sunset billboard that was doing the rounds of the internet a little while ago turned out to be a fake, we can personally attest that the air in China is a least 75% smog. (The other elements are mainly lemon tea, rice-cooking smells, incense and ciggie smoke.) Basically, pollution is a huge problem for our far-northern neighbours, which is why student designer Chiu Chih's Survival Kit for the Ever-Changing Planet is such an intriguing project. Featuring a perspex backpack fitted with a pot plant that's linked to a gas mask for the wearer to breathe through, his work is both beautiful and a bit sad-making. Sigh.