Spellbinding design elements and crafted visual branding makes up our culture of a strongly aestheticized population. Clean, sleek and pleasing is what we ask of our surroundings, but it is time to give back to life’s bare necessities. Soma Water is a sustainable and carefully created water filter that embodies basics and purity. Founded by Mike Del Ponte, the freshly minted San Francisco based brand has already seen some bright successes. Born with the purpose to replace toxic plastic filters such as Brita, and bring forward something that puts charcoal filters in the past, Soma wanted to materialize a livable concept and a flawless construction. The result, a product that is more than pleasing to the eyes, and a company that is backed by some of the worlds most visually-oriented CEO’s. With investors like Google, Warby Parker, Coca-Cola, Vitamin Water and Birchbox, the bar has risen in the world of cleansed water. The first task was to find the man who had the ability to bring Del Ponte’s vision to life.
The man, David Beeman, has a resume that spans creating filters for the likes of Starbucks, Peet’s Coffee and Keurig. Water is his passion, and finding new ways to filter it is only where his knowledge begins. With the same interest in filling the once blank niche of a decomposable water filter, Del Ponte and Beeman were able to source materials that would strip the water of things such as chlorine and lead along with many other harmful minerals found just beyond your tap. The medium that they settled on was found in Malaysian Coconut Shell Carbon (essentially burnt coconut skins) which makes up the organic inner layer. Starch based PLA (Polylactic Acid, a renewable thermoplastic material), and vegan silk then contain the shells to make up the lightweight body. To eliminate the worry of forgetting to change said filter, the company will distribute them in a timely manner, leaving you with little effort on your part, aside from filling it with water.
When it comes down to the bare bones of Soma Water’s tangible glass jar, it is made up of a gracefully curved shape, similar to that of an hourglass. With thoughtful attention to its cinched middle, making it a perfect fit for your hand’s grasp, and a lid thats fixture will not come loose while you pour, nor will it drip. An overall piece that will only add to the appearance of your countertop. As De Ponte puts it, “We knew we needed something that not only worked well, but looked beautiful,” and so he pursued and hired some of the city’s most talented originators to help him in his journey to perfecting the visual appeal, that which would house such a revolutionary filter.
Biodegradable and ideal, the Soma Water architecture alone is for the style crazed and inventive seekers. Not just a water container, but an alluring addition to any domestic surface. With the backing of so many talented and refined eyes, it is hard to see a crack in Soma’s clear vision. Everything it stands for seems to align just comfortably with those archetypes of so many companies that we stand behind today. This leads one to believe that it will also find no trouble in gathering a throng of ready buyers who stand for the same ideals as the company itself. Now Soma just awaits the date in which it can begin to drop off its debut edition, while winning over those that hold strong to their plastic water purifiers. All in a day’s work.

Text by Michaela d’artois