Hasta La Ideas

(Photo: Triflow Concepts)

In our continuing efforts to be your online destination for all things Zaha Hadid, we bring news of the architect’s latest achievement, this time in the kitchen and/or bathroom. British brassware manufacturer Triflow Concepts tapped Hadid to design the faucet of the future, featuring the company’s signature three-way tap. Say what? According to Triflow, “the filtered drinking water is isolated from the hot and cold water streams. The latter are controlled by the tap’s discreet handle, while a touch-sensitive electronic button activates the filtered water.” (Fair enough, but we’re crying redundant on “touch-sensitive electronic button.”) It’s the perfect addition to your gleaming white Hadidian kitchen, which you may recall from its brief stay atop the Guggenheim as part of the museum’s outstanding 2006 Hadid restrospective.

The starting point for Hadid’s faucet design? “A series of formal studies on the conceptual terms of ‘fluidity’ and ‘seamlessness,’ as we wanted to generate the fluid geometries of water in motion,” she notes in a statement issued by Triflow. Thanks to 3D software and viscosity-related tinkering, Hadid was able to “create something that not only appears continuous, but also blends seamlessly with the ergonomic needs of a tap.” And producing it was no easy task. Triflow had to delve into “advanced methods of production and a unique ceramic coring process,” which just might explain the advanced price: $7,000. What’s next for the prolific Ms. Hadid? Perhaps the kitchen sink itself.

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