Over the past few years, several techie products have been launched to combat dehydration. As we know from various journals, dehydration leads to a severe lack of concentration. Of late, rehydration has taken the front seat in a lot of workspaces with the introduction of more water dispensers and more laid-back liquid container at-the-work-desk rules – leading to more and more products and apps telling us when and how to rehydrate better. However, Droog Design has taken an entirely unique approach to dehydration indication in the form of a sweat-sensitive textile coating SOAK (created by designer Paulien Routs), a color changing material, which is responsive to the composition of the micro-fluids found in our sweat.
SOAK changes color when it comes in contact with the perspiration due to human contact. The indication is simply beautiful – when a person is sufficiently hydrated the SOAK coating turns blue, when a person is dehydrated it turns yellow, warning of low hydration levels. Droog Design partnered with Nissan to apply this innovative textile coating across the custom-made, perforated leather steering wheel and seats of Nissan Juke. Routs had ideas of his own for the technology initially but soon after Nissan approached him “with plans to implement the technology in a Juke to demonstrate the technology as a concept in their ‘do drink (water) and drive’ campaign” Routs says he ‘thought it was fantastic”. Having such a cool and striking impact visually, it won’t be long before we start seeing this technology everywhere, especially the office chair.
Designers: Droog Design & Nissan
