As the threat to earth’s natural resources rises exponentially, our ‘available-on-demand’ mentality seeks to be refreshed. Can this initiate an alternative for the way we consume daily resources?

Tea Drop is a tea machine, which condenses water vapour from the surrounding humid atmosphere. It functions on its own timeframe, so one has to wait for the tea vessel to be filled up with water, before it can be boiled and ready for making tea.

Learning that it takes 30 litres of virtual water to produce one single cup of tea, led Shaakira to do field research on tea farms in Asia. While there, she discovered that water is a by-product of processing tea and harvested tea leaves are dependent on the weather and subject to time. On a symbolic level, Tea Drop aims to recapture this precious resource, whilst giving power back to the environment.

Photography by: Ronal Smits and Angeline Swinkels