This Water Bottle Knows When You Need to Drink How often do you go several hours without a sip of water, only to find yourself chugging a whole bottle in one go? For the designers at Slovene water bottle company EQUA, the answer was: too often. And after some extensive research into the importance of drinking water regularly – before you’re thirsty rather than when you’re thirsty – they realised they needed a solution. So they invented the Smart Water Bottle, which turned out to be a very desirable concept when they launched it through Kickstarter earlier in 2018. With a minimalist design of coloured stainless steel and a marble top, the EQUA Smart Water Bottle’s glows every time you need to take a sip. The bottle comes in a range of colours – snow white, dark grey and pink blush – so you can choose a bottle that fits your style, all the while enjoying the health benefits of hydrating regularly safe in the knowledge that you’ve chosen an eco-friendly product. We spoke to EQUA’s CEO and founder Anze Miklavec to find out more. THE PLUS: Where did the initial idea for EQUA come from? Anze Miklavec: I think almost everyone is familiar with the tiredness and headaches at the end of a day and the reason for it is probably not drinking enough water during the day. We did some in-depth research on hydration and effects on the body and health and started evolving our ideas. We always stress the importance of drinking frequently during the whole day not only drinking enough in a day and here is how especially EQUA Smart Water Bottle kicks in. With smart technology and reminders. TP: Tell us about the design process. Why minimalistic? Why these colours? Why opaque? AM: I love minimalistic design and I am always looking for variability and beauty in great materials. That is also why we added a real marble stone on the top of the bottle. Something that no one has done before. The bottle is made of high quality stainless steel and it provides thermal insulation – it keeps the water cold for 24 hours and hot for 12 hours. We put a lot of thinking in how to make technology small – almost invisible – and user friendly, so we placed the tracker on the bottom of the bottle. We also put a lot of focus into making nice and non-intrusive glow reminders that would still stimulate the user to drink. TP: What do you hope EQUA’s legacy will be? AM: EQUA is promoting two main movements – the preservation of the environment and healthy lifestyle. It is heart-breaking for us to see the earth drowning in plastic and we want to stop it. We want to give a chance to everybody to do the same. People have to have the possibility to choose other than plastic packaging and the companies should take their part of the responsibility and change as well. At EQUA our team is very sport and health oriented and we want to help people break the unhealthy habits by being a role model as a brand. We feel responsible to educate and provide useful products. We want people to feel great and full of life despite of a busy lifestyle most of us run. TP: What excites you most about the possibilities of combining design and healthy lifestyle? AM: Healthy lifestyle is a huge terrain to explore and it offers numerous possibilities to create products that would help the user to run a better life. And designing functional and eye-pleasing products as we do is always a good investment for both ends. Designing the EQUA Smart Water Bottle, we think that beauty lies not only in the design but also in communication – not only communication between technology and design but also between the product and the user. TP: In your opinion, can design revolutionise healthy lifestyle? AM: Design is not only a product looking nice, it has to solve some kind of problem. We think of it as an entirety of function and appearance. It comes down to 1000 different details to do with aspects such as how the user handles, drinks and carries the bottle. It is also about carefully choosing the way the bottle reminds you when to drink and of course all the features the app is able to offer. And for EQUA Smart Water Bottle an in-depth research of human behaviour and drinking habits was essential. So my opinion is yes – it can and it will help us to live better!
