Bakker’s plans also extend well beyond the walls. He told the outlet that Efron intends to use plant-derived materials for items inside the home as well, including mattresses, curtains and pillows. Bakker is also working with an appliance maker on the possibility of creating a washing machine with a hemp-made drum.
Why hemp is central to the design
For Bakker, the point is not just to give a celebrity house a green label and call it a day. His work has long focused on reducing waste and showing how farming and building materials can overlap in practical ways.
In a May 22 Instagram update, Bakker posted a photo of himself and Efron in a field and explained why the project matters to his team at PlantBord.
“For us @plantbord it’s just exciting that the farmers that grow our food can also make the materials we use to make the kitchens where we cook our food,” he wrote.
He added that Efron’s kitchen and bathroom joinery would use “only 200 hundred boards,” requiring less than 1,000 square metres of crop. If the material is adopted more widely, Bakker said, it could help farmers restore soil health naturally.
The bigger goal is simple: show what these materials can do in an actual home, not just on a famous client’s mood board.
Why Efron chose Joost Bakker
Efron explained his decision to work with Bakker in a December interview with the Australian Financial Review. The actor said he has lived in many places for extended periods, but Bakker’s spaces gave him a clearer sense of what he wanted long-term.
“I've lived just about everywhere you can for several months or even years at this point,” Efron said. “And I think if I had to look back at my whole life and think where do I ultimately want to end up, every time I go to Joost’s I have a sense of ‘this is actually what I want in life.' It just seems right. Like, that’s the way it should be done.”
Bakker has also described the collaboration as creatively demanding in the best possible way. In a November Instagram post, he wrote that Efron “wants me to push my ideas as far as they can go.”
“Zac fell in love with @futurefoodsystem and then our family home in Monbulk and now wants a home of his own,” Bakker wrote. “So here we are - designing and building Zac’s home. Its a dream come true. Every element is pushing my team creatively and I love nothing more than testing so many ideas.”
Russell Crowe’s advice helped push the move
Efron’s decision to buy land in Australia also came with some encouragement from Russell Crowe, his costar in The Greatest Beer Run Ever. Efron said Crowe advised him to invest in Australian land, drawing from his own experience.
“Russell Crowe told me it's a good idea to get land in Australia; he did it when he was young, and it was one of the things he told me he is extremely proud of that decision,” Efron said. “It set him up really well for the future, and it’s a piece of advice and I followed it. I love Australia, it’s cool.”
The project also lines up with Efron’s public interest in sustainability, including his work on Down to Earth. Still, “FutureCave” is more personal than a TV project: a home, a long-term bet on a place he clearly likes, and a visible test of whether hemp-based building ideas can work in rooms people actually live in.
