Ooho! – The ‘edible and biodegradable’ alternative to bottled water

By Siddhartha Roy 

We, as a society, thrive on novelty and innovation. Not only for the rush it provides but also because they have the potential to (forgive my Bill Nye moment) “dare I say it – Change the world!”. Bottled water is ubiquitous and, despite concerns over plastic bottles, it is unlikely that we are moving away from them anytime soon.

Ooho! – a unique approach to ‘bottling’ water – was one of twelve winners at the Lexus Design Awards 2014. A blob-like container made from calcium chloride and sodium alginate (from brown algae), it allows water storage in different ‘drop’ like volumes. It is edible, if you choose to eat it, and biodegradable, if you throw it away. 

These blobs are made using a process called ‘spherification’ that allows liquids to be shaped in spheres an, thus, can be custom-sized. The compound from calcium chloride-brown algae creates a gel around the water while it (the water) is frozen to allow creation of bigger spheres of the container. The cost? Two cents (at least that is what Fast Company reports). 

Check out the TIME magazine feature with a fun video on Ooho! and go to Designboom to see more cool photos!