The London On Tap competition posted its shortlist of finalists this past week. The competition sought unique carafe designs that would encourage Londoners to drink plain tap water rather than over priced, over packaged bottled water. To wit, London tap water is 500 times cheaper than the average bottled alternative and involves 300 times less CO2 to process. The featured one here (read: my pick for winner) was done by Matthew Fiddimore and references the Thames with its plunging spout.
On the surface of things, using a carafe to sell water seems about as logical as selling oranges by the merits of a wicker basket. In reality however, we all have a very hard time differentiating a product from its packaging, often subconsciously believe one to be an intimate reflection of the other. This of course makes sense, a Rolex housed in a paper bag on Canal st. is much different from one in an original, velvet lined box with gold trim bought from an upscale jeweler.
It remains to be seen whether any of these carafes can go toe to toe with a plastic bottle and its fancy graphics, but it’s worth a try. For a special gold star, see if any of you can find the carafe that has two uses, one of which has nothing to do with water and is completely inappropriate.
