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Could this inflatable shower curtain scare you into saving water?

Okay, so you stopped watering your lawn. You recycle water in the kitchen. Maybe you no longer wash your car. Now are you ready ...

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Meet “Spiky,” the shower curtain that inflates after 4 minutes of shower time—taking #droughtshaming to a whole new level.
(Photos by Elisabeth Buecher.)

Okay, so you stopped watering your lawn. You recycle water in the kitchen. Maybe you no longer wash your car. Now are you ready to take shorter showers? With this funky new shower curtain, you won’t have a choice.

The curtain is lined with soft spikes that inflate after four minutes of shower time, gently pushing you out of the shower.

The stages of Spiky.

Brilliant? Scary?

Maybe a bit of both.

We reached out to Spiky’s inventor—French-born, London, U.K.-based artist Elisabeth Buecher—to find out more.

Sunset: We can’t help but wonder: Was the scary shower scene in Psycho your inspiration?Buecher: I do believe that it is very hard to do things that feel uncomfortable, even if it is for our own good (like saving water). We need a little help to force us to do it. I see my curtains like alarm clocks: You don’t want to get up in the morning, but you have to and the alarm clock helps you to do it. The spikes idea comes from a movie by Tim Burton where he was featuring a medieval torture instrument using metal spikes (Sleepy Hollow).

Sunset: So how exactly does it work?Buecher: The tap has a sensor and after four minutes of running water, the sensor triggers the inflation of the spikes via an air inflator.

Sunset: Where can we buy the curtains?Buecher: At the moment, it is not a commercial product but an educational art installation. I would love to develop it into a commercial product, but I would need to find a business partner.

Any takers? For now, we suggest putting that alarm clock to double use.