Name: Sort of Coal
Location: Copenhagen
Product: Bottle and Kishu Binchotan

What comes to mind when you think of charcoal? If the answer is barbecues and messy black smudges, Pernille Lembcke and Louise Vilsgaard of the Copenhagen-based home design brand Sort of Coal would like you to reconsider your cultural stereotyping. They’ve adapted the Asian practice of using white charcoal—also known as activated charcoal or Kishu Binchotan (KB), the same stuff hospitals give to people who’ve ingested poison—as an air and water purifier, marrying it to Danish design to create objects for the home that not only look good, but do good. Here, Lembcke explains why charcoal is better than a filter.

What inspired you to create this product?
We were inspired by a Japanese tradition of purifying water with white charcoal. We wanted to create an iconic product that would inspire people to change their drinking water habits. Drinking water from bottles shipped around the world is absurd, but drinking water directly from the tap can also be unpleasant—and it’s not very sexy to serve guests! Our ambition is to create a habit of preparing your tap water. Adding KB to your tap water is not only a beautiful gesture, but filters the water in a natural and gentle way. Many industrial filters over-filter the water, but as KB is also releasing minerals, we get balanced water that’s very close to natural spring water. I also do believe its more healthy.

How was it made?
To begin with we did a lot of tests to make sure that the Binchotan did actually absorb chlorine from water and that it did not contaminate water in any way. We wanted to make sure that the idea was scientifically backed up. Then we met with our Japanese supplier and asked about all the challenges and logics of his side of the business—the production of the charcoal. We decided to work in different sizes in order to use as much as possible from the kilns. As for the bottle, in the beginning we imagined we’d partner with a company that already produced one that would suit the Binchotan, but large companies and organizations tend to be very slow. By coincidence we met the girls behind Fragile, who had designed a bottle back in 2000—they had faith that tap water would make a come-back on Danish tables. The bottle is produced in Poland, which has a long tradition of crystal and glass production.

What was the big aha! you had while creating this product?
That white charcoal is 95 percent pure carbon, and that carbon is the basic element of life. No carbon, no life. The environment we live in is a carbon circle. Our climate problems stem from the fact that our carbon circle is out of order. We burn too much solid carbon (oil) and turn it into carbon in gas form (Co2). Charcoal is made from the carbon in trees that is already a part of the cycle. And as we do not burn it but use it to purify, it helps restore the balance!

How would you sum up your aesthetic/design philosophy?
Empathetic—we try to include more than exclude. This is a product for everybody, one that is beautiful and I hope can create a smile from within.

What are you working on next?
Hopefully Sort of Coal will be part of an initiative to find a way to purify more water from this blue planet. Water is an abundant natural resource, but we need to find ways to purify it. I dream about developing a resource-optimized solution to purify dirty water.