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Water Purifier

An installation exploring repair, regeneration, and new lifecycles for products after plastic through Earthware water purifiers.

Water Purifiers — © Brian Bogyeom Kim

Water Purifier is an installation of three Earthware water purifiers. Across three stages, the plastic casing gradually disappears until only the nozzle remains in living soil. The work proposes a new relationship between products and nature.

Contradiction

Plastic exists invisibly in ocean sediments, rainfall, and the water we drink every day. Yet the water purifier designed to filter this contamination is itself made of plastic. Water Purifier begins with this contradiction.

Transformation

Three water purifiers show the gradual disappearance of the plastic casing. As the casing recedes, the internal structure is revealed and plant life increases, until only the nozzle remains in living soil.

Regeneration

Earthware carries traces of time, use, and repair. Rather than simply replacing plastic, the project understands sustainability as an ongoing relationship between people, objects, and nature, shaped through care and repair.

About Bo Gyeom Kim

Bogyeom Kim is an industrial designer and researcher based in South Korea. He is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at Cheongju University and a PhD candidate at Seoul National University. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, his practice explores material culture, sustainability, and post-plastic design through research and making.

Water Purifier — © Brian Bogyeom Kim

Water Purifier — © Brian Bogyeom Kim

Water Purifiers Landscape — © Brian Bogyeom Kim

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