Liquid Forms: Questions for a Design History of Water

Abstract The article introduces a largely overlooked topic within the history of design: Designed objects serving as interfaces with water, enabling interaction, managing, and control. By investigating how design objects as human-made, “cultural” artifacts negotiate the meaning of the “natural” substance of water, we position our thinking within what has been known as “naturecultures” but expand the discussion by drawing on a theoretical framework of design aesthetics. The article will first analyze the ontological foundation for investigating design and water in relation to each other. Subsequently, we present our findings as three questions, which together compile a conceptual framework for a design history of water: 1) By historically and phenomenologically contesting how design evokes and affords sensory engagement with water, we can understand design’s contribution to humans’ relationship with water. 2) By examining the material composition of designed objects of carrying, distributing, and accessing water, we can trace the historical change in the materials used. 3) The question of temporal flow facilitates an investigation of how designed means are used to handle, organize, and present the fluidity of water.