Best Seat in the House

Boy George

“My toilet seat is a punk throne of defiance. The bladder is in some quarters considered the fountain of truth. Spiritual types will tell you that if you have issues with your bladder, you’re not speaking the truth.

“I feel my art, my inspiration and my reason for doing anything is always about emotion. Even if I’m doing something for a charity, there has to be an element of humour and optimism in the work."

Carrie Reichardt

Carrie Reichardt’s award-winning public work often focuses on marginalized groups – and in particular, women and their hidden histories. 

“Water is such a basic human need that I wanted to do anything I could to raise funds and consciousness about WaterAid's important work."

"My design uses my trademark logo: Mad in England, a pun on British eccentricity and being a renegade pottery, and that it is mad that so little ceramics is now produced in the UK.

Charlotte Colbert

Charlotte Colbert is an established artist and an award-winning filmmaker.

She told us: "I love the idea of turning the toilet into a flower, elevating it back to its original stature of instigator of the life cycle."

Chila Burman 

Chila Burman examines representation, gender and cultural identity in her work.

“I was thrilled to be invited to be a part of this RANKIN and WaterAid project, which seeks to reposition the toilet seat as a luxury, reflecting the reality that the humble toilet seat acts to prevent the spread of disease.

"We take for granted how significant a toilet seat is, but my own relatives in Punjab were only recently able to get a toilet.

"Billions of people around the world don’t have a working toilet, it’s a basic human right and I’m so pleased to be a part of this project helping to raise awareness."

Daisy Collingridge

Daisy is a London-based artist whose multi-disciplinary work is rooted in the investigation of the human form. Her sculptures are an immersive exploration of fabric, form and flesh.

“The purpose of my work is to challenge preconceptions about beauty. My previous work has evoked both repulsion and admiration.

"Toilets are not just about clean sanitation, providing better hygiene and preventing the spread of disease; they also provide safe and secure spaces. Not having a toilet at home or in public spaces can be particularly challenging for women and girls as finding somewhere private to relieve themselves puts them at increased risk of harassment or attack."

Joe Sweeney

Joe Sweeney works with a visual language created through British idiosyncrasies and "the everyday."

The artist encourages a pause for thought on the daily interactions that we don’t always pay attention to.

Joe said: “Toilets are a sanctuary!"

Laila Majid

Laisa studies at the Slade School of Fine Art and has exhibited widely.

Working across video, image and sculpture, her practice can be situated within slimy liminal zones which articulate how something undefinable can be transformative.

Liaqat Rasul

Liaqat describes himself as a gay, Welsh, dyslexic Pakistani man and collage artist.

“I’m absolutely delighted and proud to be working on this project with RANKIN and WaterAid. Clean water and decent toilets should be a given, no matter where you live.

"It’s shocking that 1.7 billion people around the world don’t have a decent toilet of their own, impacting on their health, safety and hopes for the future.

"We need to change this.”

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is best known for his documentary photography.

Parr’s work has been collected by many of the leading museums, from the Tate, the Pompidou Centre, to the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Ozwald Boateng

Ghanaian fashion designer Ozwald Boateng is celebrating over 25 years in the industry.

“Being part of something that fuses creativity and philanthropy, while advocating for the African continent through its work, is always humbling. The design of the seat was inspired by my ancestry and my creative foundation, returning to the core of traditional Ghanaian cloth and print.

"The colours within the fabric express a potent message of mother earth, healing, grounding rebirth, growth and light. Those are the sentiments I want each and every person to connect to within this project."

Pam Hogg

Fashion designer Pam Hogg has been making a statement with her designs since the 1980s.

"It's always a great pleasure to give my creative energy to a well needed charity, and WaterAid is vital for so many reasons. 

"The simple washing of hands is paramount, especially during the current pandemic, but few of us consider or could imagine what life is like when you can't flush a water cistern. 

"This affects women and girls disproportionately. Toilets help keep girls safe and in school, and also help prevent the spread of diseases. 

The slang for toilet is the throne, and to emphasize, luxury for some, I named mine "The Throne", and created a fantasy gold draped and frilled one with recycled leftover fabrics from previous collections. I added gold bows to represent the gift, to inspire much needed donations to this essential cause. "

Pure Evil

Charles Uzzell Edwards a.k.a. PURE EVIL is known for his signature bunny tag which can be spotted around London, and his Nightmare series of dripping celebrity portraits.

His recognisable work has been taken his work around the world and more recently, on a toilet seat to raise awareness of the millions of people who live without access to the basic human right of a decent toilet.

Roo Dhissou

Roo's art explores the relationships and connections we have with one another as well as how we formulate a sense of self.

"The opportunity to work with WaterAid, was an absolute privilege. As someone who grew up in Punjab, I am familiar with the attention taken to preserve limited water resources.

"My toilet seat ‘A seat of their own’ is complete with a milk bottle for washing your bottom as well as a squatting seat to emphasise the conversation between health, culture and water systems."

Seema Mattu

Seema Mattu's art is framed as a theme park - known as SEEMAWORLD.

“My toilet seat is just that - a seat. By moulding the toilet seat into furniture, this sculpture comments on the luxury of access to simple amenities that should be reachable for all.

"A toilet can transform lives, especially for women and girls, helping to keep them healthy, safe and in school.”

Soozy Lipsey

An ideas-driven Glaswegian artist, Soozy Lipsey has been working across multiple platforms for 25 years.

Repurposing existing - or ‘found’ - objects and images, Lipsey transforms nostalgia into the uncanny though combinational techniques. To put it plainly: leave behind everything you thought you knew and enter the wonderful world of Soozy Lipsey.

Simply put, she said: "Clean water - That's all folks - a basic necessity"

Val Garland

Val Garland, is a London-based Make-up Artist, author and judge on BBC TV series Glow Up.

"I think it’s so important that everyone should have access to a decent toilet. It is common decency, it’s people’s dignity. Think of girls and women who have just started their periods, you need access to a toilet. Think of the last year, imagine during the pandemic without hygiene. It just seems so wrong.

"People that know me, know I have a bit of a sense of humour. I was thinking how I could incorporate who I am into a toilet seat. When I heard the fact that 1 in 5 do not have that facility, my first reaction was Kiss My A***! Which became the title of my toilet seat piece.

"I wanted to create this very luxurious dream of a toilet, but this is a dream to 1 in 5 that is unobtainable. But that’s why we are here, to make that dream happen. I took the idea of lips as my focus point for this project because we use our lips to talk, and I want people to start talking about toilets."

Dame Zandra Rhodes

Dame Zandra Rhodes has been a notorious figurehead of the UK fashion industry for five decades.

"It has been a pleasure to partner with WaterAid on this project. A working toilet should be a basic human right for everyone, but almost 2 billion people around the world don’t have access to something so important.

"One of my archive prints ‘Chinese Water Circles’ can be seen printed onto silk organza and draped over the seat to emulate water.

"It has created perfect waves and golden swirls, to highlight that a toilet and access to water is, unfortunately, in some countries, still a luxury."