Nothing can ruin a morning as quickly as a rain storm. Fortunately, Peregrine Church thought of a clever way to get rain to make people smile instead. The Seattle based artist created rain-activated street art (or, to be specific, ground art) that can only be seen after the rain has soaked into the ground, and named it Rainworks!

After watching Youtube videos that showed red wine rolling straight down a person’s white clothes, Peregrine found out that this was possible because of a super hydrophobic coating that prevented the absorption of liquids. Inspired, Peregrine decided to take some stencils to the street and test out his bio-degradable and environmentally safe hydrophobic coating spray. The formula sat invisibly on top of the concrete during dry weather, and prevented the ground from absorbing water during rain storms.

Much like the recent appearance of moss graffiti, Peregrine’s Rainworks! uses (mostly) natural elements to create art in unexpected places. And while this street art is only legal in because it is not used for advertising, we think brands can find inspiration in the way Peregrine innovated on existing technology and used it in the most creative possible way.

What Sparks Our Fire: Repurposing existing technology in new and creative ways