Kita worked with Sanyo to realise the project. When we saw it on display in Milan, the unit was charging the company’s ‘Eneloop’ batteries, which can be recycled after their useful life of 1,000 charges. The leaves use Sanyo’s patented HIT solar cell technology, HIT being a catchier term for ‘heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer’, a technology that enables the cells to achieve the world’s highest power generation per square centrimetre.

The 375cm high unit is made a little more exciting by diverting a little of the solar energy to LED lights that adorn the plant and to two LCD screens that keep the user updated with the batteries’ progress. The design’s a one-off for the time being, but Studio Kita intend to keep experimenting and developing the concept. So perhaps there’s less to it than initially meets the eye, but it’s nice to think that green technology could form a centrepiece for your home, if you did need that many batteries.