WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo
Axor, the designer brand of bathroom specialist Hansgrohe SE, revealed five prototypes for avant-garde mixer spouts in Milan.
Each year, as part of its WaterDream project, Axor invites a group of international architects and designers to consider water and the living space, and come up with designs.
For WaterDream 2016, Axor invited architect David Adjaye, furniture designer Werner Aisslinger, design group Front, design studio GamFratesi and architect Jean-Marie Massaud to conceptualise the ultimate water mixer spout for the bathroom of the future. It had to fit on Axor’s U-Base, a universal mixer base for spouts.
Ritual
David Adjaye’s bronze-and-granite sculptural creation, celebrates the ritual of modern living. The water itself is ritualised, from source to flow and eventually descent.
Mimicry
“We didn’t want to simply create a mixer, an object that dispenses water; we wanted to accomplish perfect integration into an architectural landscape,” says architect Jean-Marie Massaud about Mimicry, his tap design that sees the marble merged in harmony with the water.
Water Steps
Water Steps by Anna Lindgren and Sofia Lagerkvist of Front focuses on the playful exchange between water and form.
Zen
Zen, from design studio GamFratesi, is an interpretation of an Oriental bamboo fountain, exploring “the honest connection between water and nature in a spiritual way”, explains the duo, architects Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi.
The Sea and the Shore
The Sea and the Shore is German furniture designer Werner Aisslinger’s design. Made of clay, the design is a hybrid, combining the idea of a shelf and a fountain. The shelf symbolises the beach and the water fountain symbolises the sea, constantly filling the beach with fresh water.
