Modern nomads are people who are frequently changing their residence, moving locally or abroad because of a new job, education, or for leisure. They are not restricted to a single address so they are forced to live a more practical, independent and minimalistic lifestyle. Their luggage has a place only for items carefully selected by its function, size and weight.
Mornings usually starts with a coffee or tea, but not every situation or place allows us access to hot water. A bulky kettle might not be always convenient for transport.
This encouraged me to develop a water heater concept that would meet their daily needs; with reduced weight and volume.
Minimalist form, portability, powered by both AC or battery, remote app control and explicit function sufficient for essential daily needs of a one or two people. Those are the key features that catch target group's attention.
Initially, I was impressed by ingenious (yet dangerous) solution like improvised prisoners water heater that consisted of only tied wires and razorblade.
During brainstorming related to modern nomad, i have come up with numerous associations like “NATURE, RATIONALITY, ACTIVITY, JOURNEY, INDIVIDUALISM etc.”
NATURE played a key role. It associated me with nomadic animal species, in fact migratory birds. A stork was a key source for further form evolution.
Product features
Compact design
Deatachable design - ensures slim and compact packaging
Tidy cable management - forget messing with tangled cables
Heating process
Water heating is performed by immersion. Orange tip starts heating once deployed, and idle when retracted. Retractable system is implemented for few reasons. Primarily to prevent accidental hand contact with hot heater tip, for convenient cup placement and to visually distinguish active (hot) from idle (cool) status.
User control
LED light indicators (AC, battery and Wi-Fi connection status)
Wi-Fi connectivity - smartphone app control
Temperature control - heater is turned off and retracted upon reached temperature
Scheduled heating - set a cup of water at night and schedule your water heating according to morning alarm
LED lights - indicating power and connection status
AC and battery power - powered by both battery and AC for faster heating
Texture
Applied wavy texture enriches product by both aesthetical values and functional as grip for cups
Assembly steps
NOMAD (2019)
water heater concept by Hamza Bavčić
