Electrolyte specialist Humantra and SR_A design studio founder Samuel Ross have joined forces to launch a new product that blends wellness and cutting edge design thinking. Humantra's latest electrolyte flavour, Carbon Grape, was developed in collaboration with the multidisciplinary British designer, and includes a series of wood-fired glass vessels.
A leading brand in the electrolytes sector, Humantra was founded in 2021 by British entrepreneur Charlie Wright. As it often happens with successful start-ups, the idea was simple: to offer a powdered wellness drink aimed at a wider audience (not just for athletes) with a strong focus on flavour. The Humantra portfolio ranges from Himalayan Lime to Lychee, Black Cherry to Apricot.
Ross has been a fan (and customer) for a long time, so much so that he contacted Wright and the initial conversations led to a fully-fledged collaboration that expands the brand's scope into objects and brings it at the forefront of a wider creative scene. 'The best collaborations don’t start in a boardroom. This one started with an Instagram DM,' says Wright. 'Samuel was already drinking Humantra every day, and I had admired his work for years. When we first spoke, he literally showed me the glassware he used to drink Humantra from. There was something incredibly authentic about that moment: he genuinely understood and loved what we were building, while I had this enormous respect for the world he had created.'
The new launch includes the Carbon Grape flavour, a dark-toned electrolyte inspired by the carbon mineral rich beaches of volcanic island St Vincent. Accompanying the new flavour is a collection, designed by SR_A, featuring sculptural glass decanters, vases and drinking cups, hand-blown in South London.
For the design, the SR_A team looked at the volcanic formations of St Vincent, as well as London’s brutalist and contemporary architectural language, from The Shard and Leadenhall Building to the National Theatre. The monumental structures of the city are translated into geometric vessels that expand the electrolyte experience into new dimensions. 'I’m interested in world conversions that are formed from necessity, myth, emerging technology and new frontiers: recreation and health being relatable, democratic pillars when justly developed,' said Ross in a statement introducing the collaboration. 'SR_A often reflects collective contemplations through design, in particular the body: a proximity to the organic, a desire to redefine collaboration, and a need to establish the experiential.'
It is a novel approach to a category that has been gaining momentum with a wider public, but that had so far been largely untouched by creative practices. ' The electrolyte category was ready to be reimagined,' observes Yi Ng, Co-Founder & CEO of SR_A. 'Luxury is increasingly defined by how we live, not simply by what we own, and wellbeing has become fundamental to that. At SR_A, we move fluidly between industrial design, fashion, art and architecture – from museum collections to the main street – so we saw an opportunity to bring that design sensibility to a category historically defined by function.'