KOR Vida

The KOR Vida™ was designed as a response to the need for a healthy, sustainable and environmentally sound way to stay hydrated because our collective love of bottled water, has too-often placed our health and our planet in peril. KOR Water, recent creators of the popular KOR ONE Hydration Vessel™, just couldn’t appreciate the market’s current offerings for steel reusable water bottles. They didn’t feel right – whether in their hands or on their lips. So, they pushed themselves to create a better solution that introduced style to stainless steel, one that was ergonomically pleasing and had a ‘mouth-feel’ designed for drinking water and not just storing it.

It was named to honor Lake Vida - an extraordinary frozen ecosystem in Antarctica, and a precious body of water worth celebrating for its pure water and pristine habitat locked beneath a sheet of thick ice. Featuring ancient microorganisms isolated for thousands of years, the lake is part water, part life, and an appropriate metaphor for a product designed to be healthy for both people and their planet. KOR Vida improves users’ health in two important ways, first by encouraging proper hydration, which is a key factor in cell function, digestion, weight management and physical development. Second by offering an aesthetically appropriate alternative absent of Bisphenol-A (BPA), an industrial chemical commonly used in metallic linings for canned food and beverage containers that has been linked in early studies to a range of ailments, including: infertility problems, hormone disruption, cancer, obesity, and behavioral issues. An FDA review is currently ongoing to examine the chemical in greater depth toward establishing the veracity and validity of these concerns.

Of equal importance, the Vida helps the planet by encouraging use of alternatives to common disposable bottled water, which has had a heavy impact on the global environment. For example, every day more than 60 million plastic water bottles are discarded in the U.S. alone, clogging landfills and contributing heavily to the development of the ‘Pacific Garbage Patch,’ a continent sized flotilla of plastic garbage located between Hawaii and San Francisco. These bottles also consume precious resources; to better understand the hidden energy costs associated with production, packaging and transporting disposable bottled water, experts suggest we imaging filling up a quarter of every bottle with oil. KOR Vida directly tackles these sustainability and environmental degradation problems by providing an attractive and appropriate alternative, requiring minimal lifestyle or behavior change.

That’s because the KOR Vida was designed to enhance users’ everyday lives, with anywhere appropriateness to be equally at home on a desk in the office, where you exercise, or at your side throughout the day - providing a refreshing alternative to competitive products that too often resembled camping gear. Design aesthetics, ruggedness and broad environmental appropriateness (work, home leisure, travel) encourages utilization of the KOR Vida more frequently and for longer durations than comparable products, further leveraging the waste reduction impacts from adopting this lifestyle change.

The Vida is KOR Water’s latest effort to provide a fashion-friendly and aesthetically appropriate tribute to the preciousness of water, and its importance to life, and part of their continuing mission to protect and celebrate water. The Vida’s 18/8 stainless steel body comes in two sizes, 500mL and 750mL and three colors – arctic white, natural, and anthracite (black). Its tapered profile and ergonomic handle make it convenient to hold and carry, while the twist-off cap locks into place with a reassuring and satisfying click. Untwisting reveals the bottle’s inviting thread-less spout and removable collar, the first for any steel bottle, designed to replicate the company’s Perfect Spout™ in the Tritan® medium on the highly successful KOR One. Thus, the Threadless, Perfect Spout™ was born, and made quickly removable for easy cleaning.

RKS is a strategic design consultancy delivering human-focused solutions with global impact, widely recognized for its multidisciplinary work in research, strategy and design. Founded in 1980 by Ravi Sawhney, RKS has created highly original solutions for clients such as LG, Medtronic, JBL, PepsiCo and HP, by focusing on consumer psychology while utilizing its Psycho-Aesthetics® methodology. RKS leverages insight to create strategies, build brands and achieve bottom-line success for its clients, and empowers consumers with compelling designs and experiences.