Wonderwater

Wonderwater is a project developed by the curator Jane Withers and Luovi’s founder Kari Korkman to raise awareness of global water issues and design for a sustainable future. 

The water footprint is an increasingly important tool for understanding our water consumption and using water responsibly and sustainably. The idea is similar to the carbon footprint, but with a focus on the use of water. We use large amounts of domestic water for washing, drinking and cooking, but considerably more water for producing food, paper, cotton and almost every other physical product we consume.  

Wonderwater Café

Wonderwater Café is a pop-up event designed to make us think about the impact of what we eat on local and global water resources. Wonderwater Café has been staged at the Beijing Design Week in 2011, the World Design Capital Helsinki in 2012, the London Design Festival in 2012 and at Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival at the XXII Triennale di Milano in 2019.

Frozen Lights

Wonderwater Frozen Lights was an installation of ice lanterns in Helsinki’s Senate Square to celebrate the Open Doors Weekend of the World Design Capital Helsinki in 2012. The display helped raise awareness of the water footprint. Illuminating the darkest season of the year, Wonderwater invited designers and architects to sculpt lanterns on site. The designer teams included: Artek Studio, Ilkka Suppanen, Team Brita Flander, Sebastian Jansson & MottoWasabi, Architect Group A6 and Team Aalto University. In the spirit of the WDC Helsinki theme of openness and collaboration, the people of Helsinki were invited to participate by designing their own ice lantern and bringing it to the event or by sharing their designs on social media.