A tip of the cap to anyone selling bottled water – not an easy product to market given it’s clear and tasteless, and an almost equivalent product is available from a tap at a fraction of the cost in most homes. A nod of approval then to anyone opening a shop dedicated to selling only one brand of bottled water, and a rousing round of applause if your shop is flogging water proudly boasting of being sourced from a developing country’s megalopolis, rather than the green and pleasant pastures of a Swiss mountainside.
So is this water slightly less clear, and slightly less tasteless, than you might like? Not a bit of it, says water emporium Casa Del Agua in Mexico City; all sorts of purification processes are carried out to ensure this water is as watery as water gets. What the Casa has done is dressed itself up in a very classy way – no dazzling UV lighting and space age refrigeration here, this outfit is less a sequinned ball gown and more of a test match at Lord’s suit: pale and understated, but undeniably expensive looking.
Add to the décor some clever bottling, adorned with interestingly complex line drawings in the style of W. Heath Robinson, returnable and refillable, and this may be the best example of the Emperor’s new clothes we’ve seen.
Credits:
Concept: THiNC / Ignacio Cadena – Hector Esrawe
Interior design: THiNC
Architecture: Hector Esrawe – Hector Coss
Landscaping: Alejandro Tazzer
Art direction: Ignacio Cadena
Graphic design: Rocio Serna
Bottle design: Nouvel Studio / Cadena+Asoc Branding
THiNC Design Team: Ignacio Cadena – Hector Esrawe – Ian Castillo – Rocio Serna
