HIDDEN

MATT COSTELLO

In Ireland and the UK, the average person uses 150 litres of water per day, which includes not only the water we drink, but that which we use for washing, in the toilet, or for watering plants. Yet, if we consider the ‘virtual’ or embodied water used to produce the goods and food we consume, our daily average is much closer to 3,400 litres of water per person per day. This ‘hidden’ water accounts for nearly 96% of our daily consumption! Hidden explores the virtual water present in manufactured goods and industrial materials. It includes a set of glass vessels designed to communicate the differing amounts of water required to produce a range of industrial materials. The stopper in each bottle is manufactured from a different material: steel, aluminium, epoxy, glass and ceramic. The vessels are sized to contain the amount of water used to produce that bottle’s cap. Prototypes for goods that use less water are another output of the project. An alarm clock and smoke detector have been redesigned in cork and ceramic: materials that use less water than the usual plastic and metal from which these products are manufactured. They demonstrate the possibility for reducing the amount of water hidden in our everyday goods.