The advertisement implies that Phenomena, although purified water, impacts our senses and our mind in surreal and remarkable ways.

OUTCOME

To make this brand desirable, I decided to research surrealism and its origins.  I also look at the writings of Karl Marx on commodity fetishism. The desire of the body, as a collectible object, stems from the enlightenment period when non-western objects of distorted figures of worship and dolls began to turn up as antiques at European flea markets, thereafter were highly sort after as collectibles moving between avant-garde studios. The surrealists, who were the first to question the body and commercialize the mannequin as a commodity, confused the boundaries between animate and inanimate, human and machine, male and female, the sexualized and the sexless, and ultimately life and death.

Marx writes that fetishism is not solely a means to hide our deficiencies and cover our losses. It is not merely a passive response to a world that does not meet our expectations but provides us with structure and depth to subjective life.

I wanted this fetishism of completeness to be fulfilled through the consumption of a uniquely designed high-quality bottle and its rare exotic water commodity purchased purely for its fine taste and its desirable aesthetics.  Phenomena could be purchased at Michelin star restaurants, private clubs, sports clubs, and nightclubs for the rich and famous.

Rather than the obligation to drink alcoholic beverages, I wanted the philosophical design to psychologically enhance the social pleasure of drinking water, as a more desirable experience.

Using hardened glass, the bottle would be less susceptible to accidents and would be a lot safer than using plastics that can't be stored at any temperature. The anxiety of dioxins, found in plastic bottled water, would be eliminated; a possible factor in the increase of breast cancer in women.

Many years ago, I was transfixed by a Herb Ritts photograph of a female nude lying down on blackened Hawaiian sand. The immaculate female body and breasts, captured at an exotic location, emulated a quick fix fetish of desire. 

Undeniably, I used this photo as my inspiration for the bottle's shape. I later drew and digitally sculptured its form into a bottle using Cinema 4D. I based the campaign on beauty, the skin, and the body’s need to rehydrate. Actually, when the body rehydrates, the essence of replenishment is almost like a feeling of serenity, therefore, I coined the term surreal sensation.