Fog-catching jacket a notable leap forward in tackling water scarcity

The Lexus Design Award is renowned for celebrating exceptional design solutions that address global challenges, and Pavels Hedström’s Fog-X technology caught the attention of the judging panel for it’s potential to revolutionise access to water in some of the worlds’ most remote places. His novel approach, combined with the practical application and scalability of Fog-X, resulted in the well-deserved awarding of the Lexus “Your Choice” Award for the Copenhagen-based, architect come entrepreneur. His passion and urge to tackle the issues of climate change, are rooted in his school days, where he came to understand, the earth’s enormous crisis.

Fog-X is a pioneering solution in addressing water scarcity, through a fog harnessing system, the latest version of which is a jacket engineered to collect up to 10l of water per day, by catching fog. This innovation represents a significant leap forward in our ability to address water scarcity in some of the most remote places on earth. It is groundbreaking technology that reinforces the importance of sustainable design in addressing the globe’s most pressing issues.

As part of his Master’s programme, in “Architecture and Extreme Environments,” Hedström — founder of independent design studio “Inxects” — spent time in the Atacama Desert in Chile. This is the driest nonpolar desert in the world as is said to be the most similar conditions to Mars. He realised how deeply unbalanced nature and society were and spent a month gathering information and working on a prototype.

“I knew that I had to take it upon himself to shift my mindset to a place of innovation that connects with my Eastern way of thinking, driven by the philosophy of putting the self aside and acknowledging that the human ego is the biggest challenge,” says the passionate Swede.

When you talk to Hedström, his commitment to innovation, architecture with impact is truly evident. His drive extends to winning, it would seem, having entered the awards twice. “I was determined to have a seat at the table of innovation and design, and I fully immersed myself in the process.” Hedström and other finalists also had the opportunity to engage a “potent mix” of mentors who spent time to assist in nurturing the finalists’ projects during the final design phase.

This prestigious award not only acknowledges his talent and dedication, but also positions Fog-X as a solution with the potential for widespread implementation. The recognition from the Lexus Design Award further amplifies the impact of Fog-X and provides a platform to showcase its potential to a global audience.

This innovator is set to challenge the thinking of where we are at when it comes to transformative design and biomimicry as he seeks solutions in the intricacies of nature’s very answers. He describes the awards with passion as he shares some of his learnings. When asked what ultimately won him this award, he says: “It is the story of everyday objects that empower you with the ability to collect life sustaining resources.”