These Desktop Water Fountains Are ASMR Moments of Zen

updated Jul 30, 2020
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Flip fountain (Image credit: Lily Clark)

Design and science experts have assured us that one way of reducing your stress levels is to get yourself near some water for a healthy dose of what’s known as “blue mind,” or the calming effect that simply being in the vicinity of H2O has on people. It’s not quite possible to bottle those good vibes up and take them home, but the next best option is to invest in indoor fountains, like these beautiful, zen-emitting devices by Lily Clark. The LA-based ceramicist recently introduced a three-piece series of small-scale fountains that will certainly go a long way toward reducing stress and anxiety in the home.

The ceramic pieces come in three styles: Flip, Drop and Comb, which are available in terracotta stoneware and off-white. Each fountain costs approximately $300. Clark has likened her creative process to using a pattern to sew an article of clothing.

Comb fountain (Image credit: Lily Clark)

“I begin by rolling out flat slabs of terracotta or porcelain clay which I cut using a template,” the ceramicist told Ignant. “These pieces are joined at the seams to form the walls and an inner chamber. Using a 3D printed dye, I extrude a bit more clay to form the delicate channels that separate the water.”

Not only do Clark’s designs help to incorporate feng shui into their settings, the fountains speak to the beauty the artist finds in modern dams as well as historical and social ties that are meant to make us think beyond the diminutive structures’ soothing properties—even giving some the feeling of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR).

“Each fountain relies on a balance between digital fabrication and handbuilding techniques, evoking the mechanical, rhythmic quality of mostly concrete infrastructure. Uniform channels, steps, and curvilinear silhouettes reference the streamline modern dams built throughout the US during the New Deal,” Clark said in a press release.

“The fountains evoke the water infrastructure our city depends on, considering a deeper understanding of how water importation affects ecologies, economies, and societies where the water is being drawn from.”