Samsung may be best known to the tech-loving community for its mobile devices, computers, and televisions, but there are plenty of other products that the South Korean giant makes. With all that said, however, the latest Samsung manufactured product may still surprise you: A Samsung-branded flower vase that just so happens to double up as a throwable fire extinguisher.
The Firevase, as they call it was developed by Cheil Worldwide, it was made with the challenge of getting more homes in South Korea to have readily available fire safety equipment. The Seoul-based Chaebol (South Korean conglomerate) is currently distributing 200,000 of the vases to members of its insurance program.
Living spaces in South Korea, including the communal and low-budget spaces known as goshiwons, often present fire hazards. When a goshiwon caught fire last year in Seoul, the dorm-like facility didn't even have any sprinklers because current safety standards are not applied retroactively to older structures. Seven people died. Similarly, no sprinkler system was in place in a small hospital in southern South Korea where 37 died.
"I am too ashamed to say again that this kind of thing will never happen again," Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said at the time. In South Korea, the role of prime minister is equivalent to that of vice president.
In South Korea, Samsung is not only into electronics but it even covers insurance through Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance. As an insurance company, Samsung conducted a poll of the country which found that 58 percent of households did not have a fire extinguisher as of 2017, despite a recent law requiring them.
The vases first went into production around that time, with Cheil building them and Samsung Insurance distributing 10,000 vases. "The idea behind Firevase is simple: raise awareness to the very important public safety issue of home fire safety while drawing a direct line between that effort and Samsung Fire & Marine's fundamental brand philosophy of always nearby and always good," said Oh Hyung-kyun, a creative director with Cheil Worldwide, at the time.
Now, the company is looking to expand its program. "With the strategy to equip Koreans that were indifferent to fire safety with fire extinguishers, we created one that was unique so it would increase their desire to have one," Samsung says in a press release, per Deezen.
The inspiration behind the creation of this fire-fighting tool is the fact that over 10,000 fires break out in homes every year, according to the 2017 Annual Fire Survey by the Korea National Fire Agency.
Yet, 71 per cent of homes in South Korea still lack proper fire safety equipment. Even for citizens who own a fire extinguisher at home, a survey conducted by Gyeonggi Province Family and Women Research Institute showed only 24 per cent of respondents knew how to use a proper fire extinguisher.
Many fire extinguishers owned by Koreans are stored in places that are hard to reach, or even completely forgotten about.
The Firevase was designed to be a fire extinguisher that could always be within reach.
