These Japanese-Designed Fishbowls Are Cooler Than Anyplace You’ve Lived

We’ve seen classy feline furniture, architect-built cat shelters, and designer dog houses. Now Japanese designer Haruka Misawa (who worked at award-winning Japanese design firm Nendo before starting Misawa Design Institute in 2014) has created Waterscape, a series of stunning translucent square fishbowls that blow conventional aquariums out of the water with beautiful, minimalist design.

Misawa said in an email statement that the project is an “experiment” to test the idea of a new type of aquarium design that explores the buoyant properties of the underwater environment. Unlike many other modern aquarium designs, the focus here isn’t on the shape of the vessel, but of the sculptural forms within that create an interior architecture for fish to navigate.

“Underneath the surface of water is a unique environment that exudes an energy which is completely opposite from that which is surrounded by air,” Misawa said, adding that the designs highlight the way that aquatic plants rise to the surface of water and how “delicate structures that are prone to damage caused by their own weight on land are able to maintain a stable state because of the relative force of gravity and buoyancy.”

The stunning aquariums have been exhibited in Tokyo and Taipei but are sadly only prototypes. What do the fish think? You can watch them checking out their fancy new digs in the surprisingly charming video below.