Our Story
Made by people who kept killing their plants.
Urban Roots was born out of a very real ,very relatable problem - and a stubborn belief that living things shouldn't come with so much guilt.
Ray & Bella
We're not plant people.
We're people who wanted plants
Between the two of us, we travel constantly, work long hours, and move between cities more than we'd like to admit. We're the kind of people who love the idea of a home filled with living, breathing things — but the reality always looked the same: a guilt trip every time we came back from a trip to find another limp, yellowing plant on the windowsill.
We tried everything. We set reminders. We asked friends to come over and water while we were away. But here's the thing — the friend who volunteers to water your plants also doesn't know how to water your plants. So they either overwater, underwater, or just forget. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
"We wanted a home that could grow with us — living things without the hassle of taking care of them. Turns out that's not too much to ask."
There was something else we kept thinking about. When you gift a plant to someone, you're not really gifting them something beautiful — you're gifting them a responsibility. And in Chinese culture, there's a reason bad fengshui is associated with dead plants in the home. A dying plant carries an energy. We didn't want to give people that.
After moving back from New York and putting down roots in Malaysia, we started looking for a solution. Self-watering pots existed — but they were plastic, ugly, and completely at odds with any considered interior. None of them felt like something you'd actually want in your home.
That's when the idea clicked. We'd always been drawn to artisan Malaysian ceramics — the texture, the craft, the way handmade objects carry a warmth that manufactured things never quite do. What if we reimagined the self-watering pot entirely? What if it looked like something you chose deliberately, not something you settled for?
That curiosity became Urban Roots. Pots designed as objects first — beautiful, considered, built to live in spaces that say something. With a reservoir inside that keeps your plant alive for up to four weeks without a single thought from you.
For people like us. Busy, travelling, working — or simply people who love plants but don't have a green thumb and never will. Top it up once a month. That's it. The rest takes care of itself.
Functional Design
Beautiful on the outside.
Engineered on the inside.
Every Urban Roots pot is two things at once — a considered design object, and a precision-engineered system. The craft you see on the outside is matched by the function you can't.
Your plant drinks when it wants to.
The reservoir doesn't drip or schedule. Your plant draws water up through the soil via capillary action — only when it needs it, only as much as it needs. No overwatering. No underwatering. The plant regulates itself.
Artisan craft, purposefully made.
Each pot is intentionally crafted — not mass-produced. The form, the weight, the finish — all considered. But underneath the aesthetic is engineering built specifically to sustain a living thing. It's not decoration pretending to be functional. It's both, fully.
One fill. Weeks of life.
The Haku holds enough water for up to 4 weeks. The Toto, up to 8–10. Top it up once, then forget about it. The design does everything else.
Why Urban Roots exists
Self-Watering Pots Existed.
Beautiful ones didn't
We set out to make a pot that earns its place in your home — not because it's practical, but because it's something worth keeping.
What We Believe
01
Living things deserve good design.
Your plant shouldn't live in something you're embarrassed to have on your shelf. Every Urban Roots pot is a considered object — designed to belong in your space, not just function in it.
02
Guilt is not part of plant ownership.
Plants die because life is busy. We built a system that removes the guilt entirely — a reservoir that keeps your plant thriving for up to a month, whether you're home or halfway around the world.
03
A gift should never be a burden.
When you give someone an Urban Roots plant, you're giving them something alive and lasting — not a responsibility they'll feel bad about. Good energy in, good energy out.
04
Craft Matters
We're rooted in Malaysia and proud of it. Our curiosity for local artisan ceramics is in the DNA of every pot we make — because things made with care feel different from things made at scale.
URBAN ROOTS
Design that breathes.
Growth without the guilt.
SELF WATERING PLANTS - KUALA LUMPUR
