Vertical Theory is a space-saving, vertical farm system using minimal parts and felt pockets to grow food hydroponically in small urban apartments.

Editor's Note: Make Magazine's annual Maker Faire celebrates DIYers, techies, artists and crafters. This past weekend our own Karen MacKay had the opportunity to exhibit her project, Vertical Theory at the New York Maker Faire. This week she'll be sharing a series of posts on the projects and products, from low-tech DIY to high-tech energy saving devices that she saw there. Feel free to share your thoughts and if you were at Maker Faire too, let us know what sustainability focused projects caught your eye!

Tucked quietly in the back of the Sustainability tent at this year's New York Maker Faire, Vertical Theory still had a constant flow of eager visitors and plenty of buzz. Focusing on solutions for indoor urban farming, Vertical Theory had its start as my industrial design thesis project while finishing my graduate degree at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. A year after graduation, I'm still working on the project and loving all the positive and helpful feedback from fellow makers and DIYers.

The simple and low-tech design allows urban dwellers with limited indoor space to grow food hydroponically indoors. Affordable and easy to maintain, the felt-based system utilizes minimal space, materials and power.

Using the same pumps required for aquariums, growing 9 plants for an entire year is estimated to cost less than $10 per year on your electrical bill. Although still in development, the next phase for Vertical Theory is a kickstarter campaign to allow for additional prototyping and small production runs of the felt pockets which will be available for sell in the near future.

In the past year, Vertical Theory has been exhibited at three Maker Faires, collaborated with local New York students and is currently on display at the Science Barge in Yonkers, NY.

To learn more about the project please check out our website at www.vertical-theory.com and follow us on Twitter.