100%Design believes design is all encompassing. This year’s exhibition features the big (can you get a more comprehensive design than the YO! Home, launched this year?) to companies that specialise in the most elegant of design details.
Amongst the ‘to be expected’ fixtures and fittings at 100%kitchens&bathrooms, some companies shine a spotlight on the most unexpected of details, transforming the functional to the beautiful.
Aquaduct believe in “transforming function into art”. Their medium for this noble mission? Water drain coverings. Having worked as a construction specialist, RIBA award winner John Harte felt a perennial sense that there was something missing when completing his designs, step forward Aqua Innovations, born in 2011, striving to “free the market from the restraints of functionality”
Now, they’ve been selected by the Design Council as one of six of the best start up companies, and they’re transforming wetrooms and exterior drains in ways that haven’t been seen since the Victorian era, when ornate drains were all the rage.
In the stand next to Aqua Innovations, find DUNE. Their raison d’etre? “Going Further in Innovation”, and their going on that journey by way of printed glass and acrylic designs for, well, anywhere in the home, office, public space. The designs include mosaics, one off tiles, large panels and the prints are as diverse as any image or pattern, creating a range of decorative details to be combined at will. Showcasing their MyPrint line at 100%Design this year, the system allows any high quality print to be transfered for use in the home. The philosophy is to “Colour your ideas…. delight your sight in a world full of nuances”
