Each can of Bored & Thirsty’s sparkling and still water features vibrant and eccentric designs from local artists, fashion designers, musicians, and more. The company has even created unique can artwork in collaboration with music festivals like Life is Beautiful, Darker Waves, and Wonderfront, offering a sustainable water option to serve concertgoers. Whether it be a painting of a fish or a colorful checkerboard, each design serves a different deeper message.
What was the inspiration behind Bored & Thirsty?
The co-founder and CEO, Darin Rasmussen, reached out to me one day. He wanted to create a new lifestyle water brand that was canned sustainably, and he wanted to root the brand in art. Bored & Thirsty means bored of the status quo and thirsty for positive change, which became this idea that we’re not going to just reinvent consumer product goods, we’re also going to reinvent how companies advertise their messages to consumers. We want to inspire people through art in unique ways so that they can apply more creativity to solve personal, societal, and global problems in their life.
What do you do to promote wellness?
Our mission is to get as much plastic out of the oceans and landfills as possible. The second (focus) is on people’s health. More studies are coming out every day saying microplastics are a real problem. One of the ways that we help address it is not packaging in plastic, and in how we manufacture our water. Purified water essentially takes local water and uses reverse osmosis to bring it down to 99.9 percent pure. You strip out the bad stuff, but then you add back a mineral blend to make it more nutritious. We do one little extra step by adding a microdose of trace minerals, which are rare earth minerals like copper, zinc, and magnesium.
What made you decide to put art on the can?
It is so unique because we can turn a commodity into something artistic and collectible, so that when you finish the can, it might be something you keep. It’s all one barcode, but each can looks wildly different from the next. Of those mixed cans, you will be able to find ones by fine artists like Ali Sabet, Drew Brophy, and Wotto. We’ve partnered with at least a dozen really skilled artists locally. Our first partnership was with Ali Sabet, a local artist who makes these really beautiful designs with flower women. We promote him on those cans, and we use QR codes to let people discover his art.
How do you continue to innovate with each new can design?
We have this cool augmented reality platform partner, and in the case of Drew Brophy, who is also local to Orange County, the can design looks like this green fish. When you scan the QR code and point it at the front of the can, the fish comes alive. Children’s Hospital of Orange County ordered some cans with their little mascot Choco. We created this augmented reality experience where Choco comes off the can, and he gets surrounded by butterflies. When sick kids and their families see this Easter egg, it’ll bring a little joy to their lives.
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