Soma
A sleek and elegant carafe aims to change how we filter water
We’re always intrigued when we hear of someone trying to apply good, thoughtful design concepts to a seemingly commonplace product. Launching on Kickstarter today, Soma is a new company out of San Francisco doing just that with a water-filtering carafe. Taking a ground-up approach in terms of design, sustainability and functionality the Soma carafe aims to give Brita and other water pitcher producers a run for their money.
Soma’s most unique element is the custom-designed filter. Created by David Beeman, a water filtration expert who can claim the water filtering formula for some of America’s biggest coffee brands (Starbucks and Peet’s included), this version completely re-imagines what a filter can do. Most contemporary water filters use a combination of carbon and plastic to remove unwanted elements. The Soma filter is made with carbon from organic coconut shells, and has a vegan silk screen and casing composed of food-based PLA plastic. These components render the filter 100% compostable, so when it is all used up you can simply toss it without contributing back to the waste cycle. The lack of plastic components does not change the filter’s effectiveness; in fact, the Soma has been shown to out-perform current plastic filters. To top it all off, the Soma will be produced in the US.
With sustainability as the jumping-off point the team at Soma moved on to address the physical design, intending to deliver a product that people can admire as much for its form as its function. Straying from the more typical boxy style of pitcher, the elegant curves of the all-glass carafe with elegant curves lend it a more fluid and attractive aesthetic.
The final interesting element of the Soma plan is their subscription service. When purchasing a Soma carafe you sign up for their filter subscription, which guarantees new filters delivered to you every two months. We all know the horror we have experienced after realizing the same cylinder has been sitting in our Brita for six months so the idea is to help consumers remember when to swap a new filter in.
With their commitment to good design and sustainability, the Soma team has created a solid and much-needed platform to shake up the home water filtration market. Support Soma on Kickstarter to help the company start production.
Images by by Goncalves & Tortora
