World Toilet Day: Valuing Toilets and Best Practices with Waterhouse Bath & Kitchen Design Studio
By Francesca Messina | Director of Marketing | Luxury Products Group
WORLD TOILET DAY is November 19th
Toilets come in all shapes and sizes, but did you know that half of the world’s population doesn’t even have access to one?
What if I told you those same underserved people don’t have access to sanitary water or sinks to wash their hands? World Toilet Day was introduced 19 years ago by the U.N. as a way to bring awareness to the billions of people who don’t have access to clean sanitation.
WHY IS WORLD TOILET DAY IMPORTANT?
WHAT IS THIS YEAR’S CAMPAIGN?
WE MUST WORK TOGETHER AND WORK QUICKLY
Educate yourself and other companies within the plumbing industry.
Work together to devise an innovative plan to allocate specific funding and materials to the people who are being left behind without access to toilets. It’s important to include these unserved communities in planning and decision-making processes to create sustainable sanitation systems that work for them.
Since the July arrival of Amy Siders, the showroom manager of Waterhouse BK Design Studio, the showroom has been gaining attention and momentum.
Siders has been working tirelessly to not only promote and better the showroom, but to work with suppliers and her community to raise awareness on important topics such as World Toilet Day. Siders’ creativity combine with passion speaks volumes when you see the five decorated commodes painted by the talented artists and students of Perrysburg, OH.
To raise awareness to the lack of sanitary services, Waterhouse created a unique painting challenge which was open to artists and students ages 14 through 19. The challenge: paint a toilet and bring it to life. But the students and artists where challenged by more than the unique canvas, they were ignited and excited to help raise awareness and learn themselves, that 3.6 billion people have little to no access to proper toilets or sanitation. By Sider’s effort to use a fun and competitive challenge, she awakened empathy in the community and educated youth and adults alike on a very important sustainability goal.
Siders explained that she first discovered World Toilet Day when searching about random holidays for potential events. She said that at first it seemed very odd but when she “started looking into it [she] realized it wasn’t just—we’re celebrating toilets, it’s that we’re bringing attention to people that don’t have them.” [see full article by eSomethin.com]
After contacting every art teacher in Perryburg, one teacher was quick to respond. Caitlin Shawaker of Perrysburg high School said that she liked that the project challenged students on a new level because they would be “creating art that’s not just for a grade. There’s a greater product and that product is making a difference.”
I hope all showrooms take the initiative that Waterhouse does to make the showroom business exciting!”
Jeff MacDowell | Luxury Products Group | Executive Director
Watch Amy Siders speak on World Toilet Day Art Fundraiser.
Alexis Alvarado stands with her initial design and toilet seat. (Photo credit: Caitlin Shawaker)
PHS students paint toilets for World Toilet Day.
Maria Mauder transformed this toilet into a forest and deep sea for a toilet-painting contest by Waterhouse Bath and Kitchen Studio in Perrysburg for World Toilet Day.
Maria Mauder, a Fine arts major at the University of Toledo Freshmen, took an interest in the Waterhouse showroom challenge. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was a unique opportunity that I might never have again,” said Mauder. “I’ve painted a few 3D surfaces before, but never anything as complex as a toilet. The challenge is what intrigued me.”
With two weeks to reimagine a commode as canvas, Maria Mauder, worked with a coworker and good friend, to transform a toilet into two terrestrial hemispheres: a magical forest with a babbling brook and lush greenery and a deep-sea teeming with aquatic life and plants, as well as a sunken pirate ship. Siders and the Waterhouse staff were blown away by the detail and artistic talents of the duo. [Read full article]
Waterhouse encourages everyone to join in the fun and celebrate World Toilet Day as well as these creative artists who helped bring Sider’s and the Waterhouse ideas come to life. Each piece of art is still a working toilet or could also be used as planters, birdbaths, coolers, or sculptures.
Voting has concluded and the winner will be announced today. Stay tuned for updated details regarding the online auction. All proceeds will be donated to a charity chosen by the winning artist along with a donation to water.org.