Here’s another bit of bathroom brilliance from the design/manufacture duo of Agape and Benedini Associati: the Nivis compact bathroom sink. This time around, Agape and Benedini have a bit of help from designer Andrea Morgante and his London-based Shiro Studio, the locale where Morgante contrived this minimalist sculpture that does double duty as a fully functional basin. In this regard, Nivis joins the likes of Planit’s Split Sink, Bissonet’s Emma 25, and Jean Michael Policar’s One, each of which provides a clever solution to the sometimes too cozy confines of the modern bathroom. Beyond a diminutive profile that saves much-vaunted space, the main innovation of Nivis is its clever displacement of the overflow drain to the basin’s far corner, a sleight of hand that makes slight work indeed of draining off excess water.

Nivis Sink. Designed by Andrea Morgante for Agape and Benedini Associati.

A New Look for Newly Ubiquitous Cristalplant

Nivis is made of the blindingly white and patently pragmatic new basin material known as Cristalplant, a “unique and technologically advanced composite material, constituted by a high percentage of natural minerals and a small percentage of extremely pure polyester and acrylic polymers” (cristalplant.it). Though it’s likely that you’ve heard this refrain before, it certainly bears repeating, especially when the upshot is a material that’s inert, non-toxic, 100% recyclable, highly-UV resistant, hygienic, and “pleasant to the touch.” Cristalplant is also non-flammable, which is good to know, even though fire will probably be the element furthest from your mind as you enjoy Nivis’ seamless flow of H20.

Designer Morgante articulates exactly which of the elements is likely to occupy your sight, sound, and touch as he characterizes Nivis’ aesthetic: “In Latin, Nivis means snow. Made of white Cristalplant, Nivis pays homage to the most intimate and fragile qualities of snow and its unique geometrical behavior once it falls on everyday objects.” Morgante has certainly hit upon something therein. The soft, sculptural curves of Nivis indeed duplicate the pillowy, billowing effect of accumulating snow, as someone once said, “falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” In this case, we’ll be content to swap out James Joyce’s “Dead” for all us living, enthusiastic aficionados of K and B, as we relish this basin that may look like a poof of snow, yet performs such elegant manipulations of water.

Via Trendir.