In South Corea, home fires are a serious issue, occurring at an average rate of 10,000 per year. Many of them could be either prevented or quickly contained by having a simple fire extinguisher at hand. The bulky safety device, which was imposed by a law in 2017, is nonetheless still missing in the majority of Corean homes. Cheil Worldwide, a subsidiary of Samsung, thought of a different, home-friendly solution and created a special flower vase that can double as a fire extinguisher. It’s aptly named Firevase, and it’s a gem of clever design. The vase has an outer open chamber for water where one can put flowers. The glass encloses a second chamber, though, filled with transparent potassium carbonate.

When a fire erupts, one just have to grab the vase and throw it at the flames. As the glass breaks, the vase releases the potassium carbonate, which rapidly cools down and deprives the fire of oxygen, thus extinguishing the flames. The product was distributed to over 100.000 families in South Corea during a campaign funded by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance that last from September to December 2018 and included ads in print, TV, cinemas and online. As a result of the campaign, whose aim was primarily to promote the importance of having fire extinguishers at home, the number of homes equipped with such a safety device increased by 8%.