australian made 321 water has made its way into the hands and mouths of us celebrities, journalists and us politicians after it was included in the gift bag at the people magazine whitehouse correspondents cocktail party last weekend.
black swan star mila kunis, acclaimed actor steve buscemi and academy award winning the king’s speech director tom hooper were all at the event, which is a precursor to the white house correspondents dinner.
creator gretha oost says 321 water, a sleek designed bottle with a built-in filter, was picked for the gift bag after a us contact showed the product to a high school friend who just happens to be the editor of people magazine. not long after oost shipped the bottles over for the magazine's staff to look at, she was told her invention would feature in one of the most coveted gift bags on the celebrity scene.
“for us in australia, we have really no idea what it is, but it’s the biggest social event of the year in washington dc,” says oost.
“it’s a weekend full of pre-parties and cocktail parties and the famous dinner where barack obama makes a speech and this year it was really funny.
“it’s… wow, amazing that we get to be featured in the gift bag and apparently the gift bag is something people talk about long before the event because it’s such a massive one. people really look forward to it.”
while celebrities took to twitter to express their excitement over the gift bag, oost is yet to see a picture of someone famous holding her bottle.
“not yet. i think we’ll have to give it a little bit more time.
“i really hope we get a photo of one of the celebs [with the bottle]. you hear so many times of aussie products having a breakthrough in the states because of something like this. that would be amazing and i think just being selected at such a prestigious event, that’s a big compliment.”
oost says she’s working hard to get the product launched in the us where there is big interest in sustainable products, especially those that replace the need to buy bottled water.
her product won the people’s choice award on abc tv’s new inventors in 2009.
