Artists give toilets a “makeover” for World Toilet Day
WORLD TOILET DAY 2014 – SYDNEY
World Toilet Day – November 19 – was marked in Sydney with a joint venture between Engineers Without Borders and Kohler.
An exhibition of 25 Kohler toilets, each painted by a different NSW artist, went on display outside Sydney’s historic Customs House for a period of three days.
The colourful, highly creative ‘toilet art’ drew considerable attention from media and passers by and shed light on the very real global issue that about 500,000 children die every year due to the lack of adequate sanitation.
World Toilet Day is an annual UN initiative to raise awareness of this issue and the quest to find a solution is something Kohler has been passionately involved in for a number of years.
In 2012 Kohler Co joined Caltech in a collaboration to develop a photovoltaic fully sustainable toilet as part of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Currently the Caltech/Kohler self-contained water purification and disinfection toilet system – that allows water to be reused and does not require wastewater disposal – is being trialled in India. Every detail of the project, from the specific plumbing products inside to the exterior décor (by Indian artists) has been carefully chosen to best reflect the Indian culture.