About

Hello kickstarter, name is Everett Carney. I'm a computer scientist by trade and education and a life-long aquarium enthusiast. Over the past couple years my passion for green technology has been rapidly increasing; at the end of the summer it peaked when I finally realized that I could put a brand new spin on the classic aquarium and the increasingly popular vertical garden (or living wall). In September I started Alive and Modern; my goal is to bring live plants and minimal-maintenance aquariums to every room and office around the world. At the moment I have three functional prototypes that are almost ready to go into production and a couple more that I'm not quite ready to reveal yet (ideally I'll have these ready to reveal as stretch funding goals during this campaign). By backing and spreading the word about this project you are not just helping me bring my prototypes from concept to reality, you are validating my personal belief that the world is moving in a, literally, greener direction!

We are starting out with two different desktop-friendly aquariums and a living wall (we'll refer to this group of products as "living structures" from here on out). Each piece is designed to bring a little bit of nature into any room in an easy to manage, very unique way.

The team. Right now we're an extremely small operation embracing the lean startup mentality. The team consists of myself and my business partner, Dick McManus. We've divided up the responsibilities that any new company has by skill set. We both physically build each living structure and we both design tools that make this process as efficient as possible. I focus on tank design and initial prototype creation while Dick focuses on optimizing my design patterns for the laser cutting process and coming up with the most efficient way to construct each structure. Dick has a background in mathematics and moonlights as a handyman; his skill set directly compliments my design and tech-heavy background. I also handle most of the business-end work: creating awareness of our project, creating our Facebook page, website, and securing a shipping partner for fulfillment were all tasks that I set up prior to launching this Kickstarter. Together we form a team that can design, produce, and ship our living structures without the need to outsource work; one of our goals is to keep all manufacturing done right here in the US by our team (depending on volume we might have to hire on additional help, we would consider that a great problem to have)!

Why should you care? Great question! Let me help you understand the benefits of live plants, flowing water, and why you want to bring nature into your home and workplace. Many studies have revealed interesting correlations between live plants and your productivity, air quality, and aesthetic at work. Some plants are better than others but, at the end of the day, all plants will benefit you and your environment in one way or another. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to reap these benefits while creating something that sets your room or office apart from the rest. This is where the aquarium portion comes in.

Technically speaking, the open-top tank with the waterfall could be considered a paludarium or riparium. These aquariums are typically reserved for advanced hobbyists with years of experience under their belt. I think that's ridiculous! These layouts look great and, when designed properly, are very easy to maintain.

So what's the catch? There really isn't one. I have designed these structures to be as low maintenance and cost-effective as possible. Highlights include:

No smell and no filters to clean; the water is naturally cleaned by the live plants!

Easy maintenance. All you have to do is keep the plants trimmed and, if you have an aquarium, feed the fish.

Grow plants that you never thought you could - Miniature orchids, bromeliads, tropical vines, mosses and aquatic plants will flourish in these soil-less displays

What we will accomplish with your help:

Further tool development for our in-house production team

Bulk orders of parts and supplies

Initial shipping and packaging costs

Production and fulfillment: We will assemble all of our products by hand right here in the US. I do all of my own designing then send the layouts off to a laser cutting service (again, located in the US). I receive the pieces back and assemble the structures by hand. We are (currently) a two-man operation; in order to keep our production here in the US we need to develop new tools that will serve as templates and allow us to produce our living structures at a reasonable volume. My business partner and I have done a couple "practice runs" shipping our prototype units which have been very successful but we need a better way to scale our production while keeping costs as low as possible; we want these to be affordable! This is where our backers come in: By placing bulk orders, we will be able to drive down costs in a