Ari Jóns, a second year student on product design just got awarded by Grapevine Magazine for his project, Agari.

 

The Agari water bottle is made with agar, a jelly-like substance created from algae. It is designed to only retain its shape when filled with water: the moment it is empty, it begins to deconstruct. “There’s a massive discussion right now about reducing plastic consumption,” noted the panel. “This water bottle captured global interest, showing how important the whole project was. It created hope.” Ari Jónsson was only a first year university student when he made the bottle, but it quickly gained attention online. While the project is still in its initial stages, it shows the possibilities of solving the problems of global consumption. Plastic takes 500 to 1000 years to disintegrate, so currently all plastic that human-kind has ever produced is still somewhere in our environment. “This is a revolutionary idea, but it’s a beautifully simple design,” the panel noted.

Words by Hannah Jane Cohen