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Seeing as we've been posting about water and the environment of late Elisabeth Buecher's My Shower Curtain is a Green Warrior (above) really got our attention. The goal of the piece was to show how water overconsumption could be countered in "either a disturbing or a gorgeous way" using innovative materials and inflatable technology. According to Elisabeth, "This shower curtain slowly inflates around you while you shower. It leaves you only a few minutes to take your shower before trapping you." Better hurry.
Elizabeth is part Puff and Flock a new London-based textiles collective that launched at Interiors Birmingham with Designersblock earlier this year. The collective has several members; Kathy Schicker, Amélie Labarthe, Aurélie Mossé, Aysseline Roy, Jenny Leary, Melissa French and Jo Angell. We'll be featuring more of their work in subsequent posts. More Green Warrior after the jump.
From textilefutures.co.uk and Elisabeth Buecher:
My approach to design can sometimes appear shockingly radical but I have got different reasons to legitimise that. An alarm clock is not what we can call a pleasurable object. It is often even painful to be awoken by it. However it is a necessary object, which regulates our lives and the society. That's what I call the "design for pain and for our own good". Some of my designs seem to constrain people, acting like an alarm clock, awaking people to the consciousness of their behaviour and giving them limits. People often need an external signal to behave more. In France the government added thousands of new radars on the roads to fight excessive speed. And it worked: there are far less people killed on the roads of France today. I call it "design of threat and punishment" and I use it as an educational tool.
+ puffandflock.com
+ verydesignersblock.com
"The spikes of this shower curtain slowly inflate while you shower. It leaves you only a few minutes to shower before pushing you out."
Heck yes!
what happens to the water when its done inflating the cones?
Clever yes, but a bloated waste of design skill. A false premise leads to useless projects. So you have to take 2 showers just to get the benefit of 1.
I like to take a 20 minute or so shower. Piping hot. I pay for the water and electricity, so it's my choice. If I want to take a shorter one, then I do so by my own free will.
And for the record, I get it. When I read the words "design of threat and punishment," I get it all too well.
The spikes are on the inside of the shower curtain. Wouldn't that push the person further into the shower? Oh wait. A green came up with this. Say no more.
If we're truly going to do something progressive, start with building nuclear power plants by the dozen. Then get to work on desalinating sea water. Windmills and 2 minute showers are the projects of fools.
_@_v - the hot water lasts maybe ten or fifteen minutes at my place so i have an automatic shower time limiter.
I think it's theoretically a good idea...but how do the cones inflate?
And Duane is right, pushing you further into the shower won't do any good. Might as well stick it on the wall to push you OUT.
Flawed, but interesting design. I could think of a use for the "curtain" in the first picture, but it wouldn't be related to getting people out of showers :)~
How do you turn off the water after you've been squashed by the curtain for taking too long?
And let's think green a moment - creating something plastic that must be manufactured, shipped and then, ultimately tossed into a landfill when the 'fun factor' from another plastic gimicky fad has lost it's appeal is not "shockingly radical", it's irresponsible.
And what powers the inflatable curtain?
Some people have no real idea of environmental issues!
"If we're truly going to do something progressive, start with building nuclear power plants by the dozen. Then get to work on desalinating sea water. Windmills and 2 minute showers are the projects of fools."
your quest for knowledge makes you an a-hole. How does it feel to work so hard in an attempt to feel adequate? You're only becoming bitter and alone. Your the fool. Look at you fighting with shower curtains... hahahahahaha