A Waterbedtime Story™ by Irvin Saathoff
Back in the 2010’s a longtime friend of mine from the German waterbed industry contacted me with an unusual request. The Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt am Main was needing to replace the waterbed in a Thom Merrick sculpture they had had on display since 1988. So, as the 20+ year old waterbed had gotten damaged beyond repair and the original manufacturer was no longer in business, the President of InnoMax Mark Miller stepped up to save the day by producing a replica for the work of art which was then valued at €250,000 Euros ($306,000 US Dollars).
Thom Merrick sculpture Frankfurt, Germany 1988* & Hans Peters photograph Amsterdam, Holland 1971**
Coincidentally when I first met my German friend he was working for a waterbed distributor out of Holland. As evidenced by the 1971 photograph above, the Dutch were hot on the heels of the Americans who had just been granted a patent for the modern day waterbed that same year. Meanwhile, by the mid-1970’s I found myself purveying waterbeds in California to support my starving art student lifestyle. Looking back it seems to have been an interesting twist of fate that the then burgeoning waterbed industry was helping finance my art studies.
The twist of fate was I eventually became art director for one of the largest waterbed manufacturers in the US. Boy howdy what an eye opener, traveling around the world meeting all the movers and shakers who had given birth to an industry that in a few short years had grown to dominate 20% of the US bedding market...and more in some countries. And the pièce de résistance, though an uber challenge for those of us who worked year round developing new products and merchandising materials, was always the annual industry WMA (Waterbed Manufacturer’s Association) Trade Show which was attended by waterbed industry elite from around the world.
Coronado Wall Unit Waterbed (click here) & assembly instructions by yours truly
Albeit things have changed since the days the WMA could fill the Superdome to overflowing, pretty much anywhere you go in today’s home furnishings market you can’t swing a stick without hitting somebody from the waterbed industry. As such I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of great designers who continue to have an impact on home fashion. Having literally learned the nuts & bolts as a commercial artist illustrating assembly instructions for timeless classics like the Coronado Wall Unit above, I’m pleased to currently be involved with a project now off the drawing board and into prototyping which promises to turn heads when it launches.
In the meantime and notwithstanding the contribution of fine art notables like Merrick & Peters, as there are so many people I am aware of around the world who feel there is no better sleep solution than fluid suspension, I do not believe we have seen the last of the Art of Waterbeds.
Contributing author for this edition has been specialty sleep veteran Irvin Saathoff. Check back in with the next issue when Waterbedtime Story™ shares yet another perspective. Meanwhile you may connect with InnoMax Corporation anytime at Sleep@InnoMax.com.
Footnote Citation:
*MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST
**Wikimedia , the DutchNational Archives