Chen Li: Plant Story

Chen Li, a software engineer, took a while to get into plants due to his busy schedules; but, when he shifted to working at home, he found himself filling the space with houseplants. 

He was inspired by his daughter’s curiosity for types of plants. Since she always asked what kind of plants she’d see out on their walks together, Chen decided he wanted to build an app that could answer those questions. 

“You just take a picture of the plant, and I will use some AI to figure out what type of plant is that…And then I built a database to see how to take care of it.”

After creating the identification app, Chen decided to create one that would allow plant parents to interact with each other. The heart and soul of both the apps Chen Li developed is connection. 

“It started with people's connection with plants and then it expands to connection with each other. It's about care - it's about care, it's about emotion, it's a community.”

A film by Bettina Hanna.

A special thanks to LEAFY @ Westfield Valley Fair for sharing their space for filming!