When life gets noisy,
take a 10-minute
water-garden break
We design and support a replicable network of free, research-guided micro-blue aquarium rooms and community programs for everyday calm, eco-literacy, and inclusion—starting in the Vipava Valley, Slovenia.
Commitment to nature,
calm and community wellbeing
Aquascape Today is a global, non-commercial initiative that makes indoor “micro-blue spaces” as common as libraries—free to enter, evidence-based, and inclusive. It connects health research, public rooms, education, and civic partnerships into a living art and wellbeing practice, bringing more calm, more care, and more connection to nature every day.
What is Aquascaping?
Aquascaping is the craft of arranging aquatic plants, as well as rocks, stones, or driftwood, in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium—in effect, gardening under water. It can serve cities and communities as a calming micro–blue space, a gateway to ecology and art, and a platform for inclusion.
Promoting harmony
Nature, Art, and the City
in One Room
The goal is a World closer to citizens, which favours place-based, people-centred investments that lift daily quality of life. Around these anchors, the concept naturally resonates with push for innovative urban solutions, health promotion and mental wellbeing, cultural cooperation and education, and nature-based citymaking, without turning the room into a checklist of programmes. The story we tell is simple: design that is beautiful, sustainable and shared belongs in the fabric of ordinary days.
Our micro-blue room, filled with aquascapes is a small, lightweight civic infrastructure, public space where living water and planted aquariums turn evidence about blue and green spaces into everyday experience. It complements parks and rivers, supports cities pursuing climate-neutral, people-centred agendas, and gives residents a calm shared space that builds pride and belonging.
In practice that means timeless, inclusive layouts with clear wayfinding and human-centred storytelling; responsible sourcing and care where animal welfare outweighs spectacle and equipment is maintained to last; and programming that invites everyone in through co-created workshops and partnerships with schools, senior homes and community organisations.
Coming to Vipava Valley: Free Calm, For Everyone
A Small Room, Big Public Value
We’re launching Slovenia’s first free-entry aquascaping gallery—a small, elegant “micro-blue space” where living water, plants, and light bring calm, curiosity, and community. Non-commercial, inclusive, and evidence-led, this pilot in Vipava Valley is built to inspire and be replicated.
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Free access
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Regional identity & tourism
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Sustainability
Support our cause
Support the project
We invite public institutions—schools, community centres, elder-care providers—to co-create presentations and short, tailored exhibits, extending access beyond the gallery while keeping the in-gallery experience focused and serene.
Equipment Partners & Aquascapers
Our pilot gallery in Vipava Valley is built around a simple promise: free access, community benefit, and cultural value. By providing aquascaping equipment — from lighting and filters to CO₂ systems and hardscape materials — your brand can directly power this vision. You’ll be recognized as a founding contributor to a global, non-commercial initiative that promotes aquascaping as living art, wellbeing, and education.
Aquascape Today Goals
Build a network of micro-blue aquascaping rooms
Deliver a replicable network of free, non-commercial rooms where planted aquariums provide everyday calm and cultural value, using a clear playbook for easy adoption by cities and venues
Bring nature into everyday urban life
Deliver engaging interpretation and activities that build everyday eco-literacy and support city biodiversity goals, co-designed with educators and local stakeholders. Shift screen time to “living time”
Build a research program on aquascaping & health
Deliver credible, multi-site research on short- and longer-term effects of viewing and doing aquascaping, with pre-registered methods, open data, and annual evidence briefs that policymakers and funders can cite.
Embed non-clinical health pathways
Deliver formal referral routes (social prescribing and community referrals) that recognise micro-blue rooms as a non-medical wellbeing option—building sustained demand, legitimacy, and equitable access.
Keep access free without paywalls
Deliver an experience that welcomes all ages and abilities through free entry where possible and partnerships with community organisations so those with least access to nature are actively reached.
Advance community inclusion & quality of life
Deliver an experience that welcomes all ages and abilities through free entry where possible and partnerships with community organisations so those with least access to nature are actively reached.
Elevate aquascaping as living art
Deliver pop-ups, residencies, and collaborations with cultural venues that present aquascapes as living artworks—broadening audiences, civic pride, visibility, and culture-sector support.
Democratise the hobby and grow skills
Deliver low-cost starter designs, maker kits, and training that emphasise craft, ecology, and care over gear—building a reliable practitioner and volunteer pipeline to sustain the network.
About the Founder
I started with a wobbly, home-made tank, taped-together glass, and a big imagination. As a teenager I tried planted aquariums, failed spectacularly, and walked away. Years later I came back—this time with patience, science, and respect for living systems. My first mature aquascape felt like a revelation: a quiet, screen-free window where the eyes rest and the mind slows down.
One tank became many. I learned composition like a photographer, structure like a sculptor, and care like a gardener. I filmed builds, shared what worked (and what didn’t), and kept refining. Along the way I discovered the real magic isn’t just in creating a beautiful layout—it’s in what that living “water picture” does to people. Breathing softens. Shoulders drop. Conversations get kinder.
I’m a head of IT development by day, which means I bring rigor, safety, and clear processes to a very human project. And I’m all-in on the public-good part: I’m bringing my complete aquascaping collection to launch a free-entry room where anyone can slow down, learn, and feel better—no ticket barrier, no gatekeeping. I’m inviting schools, senior homes, libraries, and partners to co-create on-premise presentations so this experience reaches people where they already are.
This is bigger than a hobby. It’s a simple, generous idea: bring living water closer to people, every day. If that resonates with you, you’ll feel right at home here.
-Matic Mermolja
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Let's talk about how aquascaping
can improve quality of life
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Make a positive impact on society
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Learn about this beautiful hobby
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Connect with a passionate community of aquascapers
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