Kotaro Watanabe is a seriously crafty design engineer at takram. He created this really nice water project that was exhibited at 21_21 Design Sight during their last exhibition titled “Water.” These paper plates have been made super hydrophobic using a compound that completely changes the behavior we normally expect from water on surfaces, mucking with the surface tension dynamics. The water becomes playful!
Why do I blog this? This is a kind of instance of art-meets-technology in a fashion. The mix of a useful surface treatment compound — this super hydrophobic treatment — and creating curious, unexpected shifts in our expectations or assumptions, while at the same time, the material has some unspoken instrumental utility. One could imagine treating all kinds of materials to make them super hydrophobic — clothing, for example, or any object that needs to be afraid of or repel water.