3D-printed faucet wins design award

Kallista's Grid faucet is 3D-printed using DMP technology.

Kallista’s Grid bathroom faucet and Cube handles are stunning examples of minimalist design. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Kallista, part of the Kohler (Wis.) Decorative Products Group, recently received a Good Design^® Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum for its faucet set.The Grid was 3D-printed, allowing its unique design elements to defy the standard ways an external housing incorporates internal components, according to the company.

“We have a design that’s a cube, but it’s just the outline of a cube,” said Kallista’s lead industrial designer, Bill McKeone (click here to see a video of the designer discussing the build process). “How do you move water through the outline of a geometric form? The only manufacturing process that could pull this off is 3D printing.”

Kallista partnered with Indianapolis-based 3rd Dimension Industrial 3D Printing to plan the best way to produce the faucet. Using one of 3D System’s direct-metal-printing (DMP) machines, 3rd Dimension produced Grid’s intricate form while meeting exacting industry standards and at production rates that allow the faucet to be competitive in the marketplace.

The DMP process allows the production of metal parts without tools and with significantly reduced waste, resulting in a product with a high rate of accuracy and output, Kallista says.