We live in an era where a premium is placed on anything artisan and bespoke. With this comes a trend of making an assortment of products that meet those requirements. Filmmaker Paul Ricco brings to us a video parody of such trend with The Timmy Brothers Water Makers. It's truly hilarious as it pokes fun at a culture that is gaining even more popularity recently. So is there really such a thing as artisan water? If so, should we really pay a premium for it?
Some people have an obsession when it comes to their preferred brand of bottled water. Water from different parts of the world contains different minerals and this can affect the waters taste and acidity. Different water bottlers claim that their water is better than the others because of many factors and they charge more for something that you can get free from the tap.
Can we call water artisanal due to the filtration system used to clean water? Is it the actual source of water that makes it artisan? Or is it the flavouring added to the water than can make this commodity artisan?
If you type up the word artisan in your Google search, the first definition that pops up is "a worker skilled in a trade, especially one that involves making things by hand." Another definition is "(food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way using high quality ingredients."
Based from these, we can infer why artisanal products are pricier than similar products. You need someone who specializes in creating the products and you need a higher standard of quality when it comes to ingredients used. This then begs the question of whether the above principle can be applied to water. Following the above premise, then humans can't make water whether the regular tap kind much less artisanal ones. It's only in theory that we can create water but to actually try to do so would be extremely dangerous.
If humans can make handmade water then we would have solved one of the biggest problems of the word: clean drinkable water for all. Water is a natural resource that most species on the planet require for sustenance and survival. It is so important that the United Nations recognize that access to clean and sufficient water as an intrinsic and basic human right. So our only producer is Mother Nature and her product is a truly rare commodity.
