GROHE has announced that its ground-breaking tap innovation for the bathroom, Icon 3D, has been shortlisted for Product of the Year 2020 in the FX Awards. Heralded as a desirable accolade within the architect and design community, the prestigious FX Awards invite both British and international design talent from all over the world to shine a spotlight on the very best interior products and projects worldwide. This year, in light of Covid-19 restrictions, the FX International Awards will replace its annual ceremony with a digital presentation on Wednesday 25th November, when the winners will be announced.
Raj Mistry, Marketing Director for GROHE UK comments: “With ICON 3D, we have achieved a truly remarkable piece of product design using a new and innovative manufacturing process rarely seen in the industry. The FX Awards is a coveted ceremony and a respected voice in the design industry that is known for celebrating the best of the best. To be shortlisted for an award is therefore always a great honour.”
Paul Flowers, Chief Design Officer LIXIL also responsible for the GROHE brand said: “With GROHE Icon 3D, we are entering the future of product design as we are now able to create designs that at first appear impossible. By embracing the still-emerging technology of 3D metal-printing, we are pushing the boundaries of design and truly shaping the future of water.”
With ultra-thin structures and hollow interiors being key features in what is the first 3D metalprinted taps by a leading European sanitaryware brand, GROHE explores how visual illusion and spectacle could influence the changing landscape of sanitaryware design in the future. Icon 3D has been created to start new conversations and ways of thinking when it comes to bathroom product design. GROHE’s vision to refine the design to its bare minimum also helps cut back as much as 50% of precious material resources whilst providing a new, unprecedented experience with water and tap design.
The components for GROHE Icon 3D are produced by printing metal, using a powder bed laser melting process, a material unique to GROHE, developed by its R&D team. Consisting of more than 4,000 applied layers of powder are each only a few micrometres thick, the form of each tap is formidably strong. Following the printing, each component is mechanically treated on a CNC milling machine, followed by a manual grinding and fine brushing procedure.