Winner of the Antonio Lupi Dressed Stone 2010 Design Contest, Mono-Lite is a freestanding washbasin made of marble and glass. The punny name plays off the idea of a monolith, a great piece of stone such as those mysterious slabs found at Stone Henge. Instead, designers CeÌdric Facchin, Marco Di Paolo, and Michael Abegg of Thing Design in Zurich have taken the material and made it unheavy (it’s a word, really).

Mono-Lite. Designed by CeÌdric Facchin, Marco Di Paolo, and Michael Abegg of Thing Design.

Mono-Lite transforms the weighty appearance of the marble by pairing it with an inset sheet of angled glass. Given the angles of the marble sink and the angles of the glass, Mono-Lite shifts the sense of weight usually associated with the rock–the jaunty mix of angles reminds me of Daniel Libeskind’s new Hamilton Building for the Denver Art Museum, which recalls both the Rocky Mountains and the geometric rock crystals found in the area’s foothills.

As part of the Dressed Stone Contest, winners get their design manufactured by the creative Italian bathroom firm Antonio Lupi. Thing Design will have the reward of seeing their “monolithic piece” be part of next year’s Antono Lupi Collection. Mono-Lite will continue the company’s tradition of innovation. Not too long ago, 3rings wrote about Mr. Splash, a Y-shaped lavabo, also freestanding, that resembles a man with his arms in the air. The confluence of unusual angles found in Mono-Lite retains something of the animated look of Mr. Splash. Both pieces are kinetic, calling to mind the one characteristic of water that other bathroom designers often neglect–movement.