About
Aepenton is a Danish design company dedicated to bring mental, relational and physical well-being to people. We were founded in 2004 and was called Flowmarket from 2004-2022.
What is Bottled pondering?
‘Bottled pondering’ is small thought-awakening glass sculptures in the form of iconic medical vials with 300+ different texts labels about various personal and relational well-being topics. Designed to create reflection, conversation and transformation. They are sold worldwide via our online store and carefully selected partners. Either individually or in our displays and cabinets with room for up to 312 different bottles. Positioned somewhere in the field between behavioural design and art they are bought as sculptural reflection/ conversation/ transformation pieces.
Well-being
The fundamental idea behind our ‘Bottled pondering’ bottles is to help people increase their overall well-being by prioritizing both their mental, relational and physical well-being.
Let’s also prioritize mental & relational well-being
Mental, relational and physical health/well-being are closely interconnected and affects each other in multiple ways. Mental well-being is about our mental and emotional state. Relational well-being is about our interactions with other people. Physical well-being is about the state of our physical body. All three reliant on each other and equally important parameters for our overall well-being. But there is a problem. Physical health and training is in general prioritized by people over the two others. And is more socially acceptable to talk about. Why is that? Reasons can be that mental & relational health are more intangible to deal with than the more tangible physical. They are less normal to talk about both at home, in school and at work. They are seen as “softer values” and many “real men who don’t cry” has been taught that they seem weak, fragile or feminine if they talk about mental and relational issues. And they are associated with uncomfortable feelings of shame, like e.g. if we were to admit to others that we feel lonely. Mental & relational health is also stigmatized with negative or limited stereotypes such as mainly being about topics like trauma, severe mental illness, diagnoses and therapy. When they are in fact about much much more than that. Our ‘Bottled pondering’ cabinets contains more than 300 different topics related to mental & relational well-being. We need to change this problem with them being stigmatized and under-prioritized. And make it a normal and positive thing to prioritize and talk about our diverse mental & relational well-being and challenges.
New possibilities - new challenges - new needs
It’s a complex thing being human. We have numerous challenges and needs in regards to both our physical, mental and relational health and well-being to consider. A constant flow of new possibilities creates new challenges and new needs. An example of this complexity is that we now live in a ‘social media age’ with multiple digital platforms made for connection and yet there are reports of these platforms contributing to people feeling more and more disconnected, lonely, anxious and depressed. New possibilities has new complex effects and consequences on our well-being that create new needs and require improved skills to navigate and solve.
Elevated mental & relational navigation skills needed
A new era for mental and relational health and well-being is on the rise. Take business as an example. A non-toxic work culture used to be a “nice to have”, where today it has become a crucial business imperative for both productivity and employee retention. Both leaders and employees end up with stress and leaving jobs because of dysfunctional/toxic work cultures. Companies have realized that they need to prioritize a thriving work culture that includes navigating issues like e.g. inclusion, work/life balance, goals/values integration and much more. Employees of today also want more than just a paycheck. They also want meaningful work, a sense of purpose and to be part of a non-toxic work culture. And employees are today expected to not only produce work but to also contribute actively to a thriving positive work culture. For both employees and leaders this requires elevated mental & relational navigation skills. And the same goes for tomorrow’s employees and leaders that are currently being educated in schools. How do we improve our knowledge and navigation skills regarding mental & relational well-being? We start by prioritizing awareness and conversations about them at home, at work and at school. And we begin prioritizing elevation of our emotional intelligence skills by implementing these conversations and navigation skills actively in our education at school and at work.
Well-being in our private-life, work-life and school-life
One thing is that we need improved career orientated mental & relations skills, but we also need improved skills for our general well-being in our day to day life at home, at work and at school. The problem again is that many people don’t prioritize talking about mental & relational well-being in either schools, at home or at work. It has the negative stereotyped stigmatization and we have not been used to talking about them or educated on how to prioritize and navigate them. An example could be with relationships. We are told that close nurturing relationships are essential for our well-being. But why are we pretty much left to our own devices to figure out how to navigate having healthy relationships or handle conflicts? Why don’t we e.g. learn about this essential practice in school? Or why don’t we learn in school about healthy coping mechanisms in regards to common human challenges like change, dysfunctional group behaviour, loneliness, anxiety or grief? And why are there e.g. in terms of commercial training options so few mental & relational options available compared to physical ones? Because mental & relational well-being is not being prioritized as much. And that needs to change.
Rethinking of communication needed
We want to help remove the stigma and normalize prioritizing of mental & relational well-being and start the conversations about it both at home, at work and at school. And help people prioritize it as much as their physical well-being. And how do we concretely do that? A place to start is to make the complex terms and topics related to mental & relational well-being more tangible, more accessible/relatable, less stigmatized, more socially acceptable and maybe even fun to talk about. And then maybe find a way to design and present the communication of this in an attractive sculptural way that people want to own, display and actively use as process tools for reflection, conversation and tranformation. This became the recipe for the creation of our tangible ‘Pondering products’ like Bottled pondering, Boxed pondering and Capsuled pondering.
The intangible made tangible
Our ‘Bottled pondering’ is a collection of physical vials that embody various challenges and needs of modern living on both personal and relational levels. The unique thing about the ‘Bottled pondering’ vials is that they are both three-dimensional physical products and at the same time they become a universal visual language of their own. They manage to address both lighthearted as well as deep and complex matters. And due to their small size they can communicate much and complex information in a small-scale way. We have chosen the medical vials as vessels as they have a built-in iconic visual reference of addressing/solving issues. This combined with the carefully designed labels and texts have enabled them to make ‘the intangible tangible’ and spark reflection and deeper conversations on various personal and relational issues. A balanced subtle humour is integrated in the bottle’s communication that serves as an ice breaker and makes the messages more accessible and relatable. And their iconic design has enabled us to successfully cross cultural boundaries worldwide.
An art piece & process tool
‘Bottled pondering’ is a unique mixture between a sculptural art piece and process tool within the term behavioural design. Its ability to make the intangible tangible, to communicate much and complex information in a small-scale way and to combine seriousness with subtle playfulness has turned out to be a great success in various ways. Our ‘Bottled pondering’ displays and cabinets with room for up to 312 different bottles are sold to private homes as sculptural art/conversation pieces. They are also sold to therapist and coaches that use them as artwork and as unique process tools. And we have now begun opening sales up to have our cabinets used actively in companies, in organizations and in schools. We love to collaborate with various partners but neutrality is an essential parameter for us as we don’t want our products to represent any specific religions, organizations, companies or individuals.
Museum worthy
We have been very fortunate to be invited to display our ‘Bottled pondering’ cabinets at stunning art and design museums where we reach a large and diverse audience that has responded very positively to them. In the museums we reach people from all walks of life.And since one of our goals is to start reflection and conversations about also prioritizing mental & relational well-being at both home, at work and at schools, this a match made in heaven for us. As people come to view our products at the museums in both their leisure time, on work excursions and on school excursions we are able to initiate reflections and conversations within both families, friend groups, companies and school classes.
Pondering products for awareness, reflection & action
The steps to improve ones well-being is: awareness, reflection/conversation, selecting the right tools and then action. All our unique pondering products such as our "Bottled pondering", "Boxed pondering", "Capsuled pondering" and "Canned pondering" are designed to create awareness, reflection and conversation. And from there inspire people to (if needed) choose their various non-professional or professional transformation tools required to take the necessary actions.