Essential to life, water is one of the most intriguing materials we come into daily contact with. SlowWater by Brook Sigal is a collection of ceramic pitchers, bottles, dispensers and biofilters that explore the minerals that give water its taste and individual characteristics and by doing so challenges the nature of the water-filled plastic bottles we find so commonplace today.

The collection form part of her upcoming exhibiton ‘SlowWater: a natural drinking water project.’ This interactive exhibtion has been exclusively curated by Ventura Lambrate and will be shown during the upcoming Milan Design Week (Undai Building, Room C form April 12-17).

During the exhibition, booth visitors will have the opportunity to discuss with the designer her choice of ingredients from minerals to plants that affect and enhance our drinking water – all backed by accredited laboratory tests. We hope to bring the results, which we are certain will be intriguing, back to you if you can’t be in Milan yourself.

In speaking about water as a material inspiration and the SlowWater project more specifically, Sigal says: “SlowWater was born from a childhood memory of the taste of water in the Alps, where I was raised. It tasted of grass, pine, granite and snow. Today it’s commonplace to see in a restaurant slices of cucumber or lemon, or rosemary branches in a glass of water. Occasionally you may spot a branch of charcoal in a refillable bottle. I wanted something more than a quick taste fix. I set out to make a connection between water and minerals and found inspiration in nature to design products that make water taste, look and smell like Nature using technologies that reflect Nature’s pace.”

It would be a mistake to think of SlowWater, an invented word to capture the imagination of the food and drink sector, as mere passiv-ology. The practice, as defined by Brook who began this project at Central Saint Martins, is a prerogative of a future in which bottled waters are unsustainable because they require water privatization, untenable transport, and cause single-use plastic waste. The designer proposes a shift to natural technologies and objects to restore faith in tapwater, remove the bad taste and odor of the treatment chemicals and use materials and natural ingredients that release flavours and essential trace minerals with health benefits.

“Looking beyond any controversy about replicating mineral water, what interests me is to expose Nature’s perfection and in doing so, every time we refill the pitcher and drink its water, somehow make the experience more alive by bringing Nature into every sip.”

Photography by Yesenia Thibault-Picaza & Brook Sigal