Daniel Arsham Creates Artistic 3D Printed Sink for KOHLER

KOHLER, an American manufacturing company, best known for its plumbing products, has collaborated with Daniel Arsham, a contemporary, New York-based artist, to create Rock01 – a 3D printed sink created using paste-based pneumatic material extrusion. Extrusion-based additive manufacturing (EAM), often used for the rapid production of metals and ceramics, works by extruding the metal or ceramic material in solid powder form and mixing the powder with an expendable viscous fluid. In this case, pneumatic extrusion nozzles were used.

The limited-edition 3D printed sink debuted at Design Miami as part of Daniel’s nature-inspired ‘Stone Flow’ installation for the KOHLER exhibition space. Too complex to realize using traditional manufacturing methods, KOHLER leveraged their internally developed AM capabilities – the sink comprises 7.5 hours worth of continuously-printed vitreous china and patinaed hand-cast brass, Rock.01 is accurately referred to as ‘functional high art’.

KOHLER may be a leader in 3D printed vitreous china, whose innovation has enabled the creation of this collaborative work of art but they are not the only company exploring the potential applications of AM in the homeware industry.

Last year, Sandhelden released their SIMBIOSIS collection – a collection of 3D printed sinks, created out of quartz sand, using ExOne’s binder jetting technology. The SIMBIOSIS collection is just one of the ways that Sandhelden has used additive manufacturing to create previously inaccessible (or at least, far more challenging and time-consuming to create) products within the bathroom design industry.

KOHLER and Daniel Arsham’s Rock.01 sink and Sandhelden’s SIMBIOSIS collection are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the evolution of contemporary furniture and homeware harnessing the power of additive manufacturing. Although designers are yet to create furniture and homeware that truly leverages the full potential of the currently-available technology – the future of AM within these industries is certainly worth keeping an eye on.