Special project for the sink issue of the MacGuffin magazine April 2017.

It all started with the need for an office sink. Unable to find one that he liked, Michel Charlot decided he would design his own and then, as it happened, had it made around the corner from his Porto office, thus enabling him to get a bespoke one for a reasonable price. It allowed him to have the sink exactly as he wanted – from the overall shape down to every exacting radius. First drawing the sink digitally, modifying the design till it was just right, the file was then sent to the local manufacturer where the sink was born flash by flash – the welding gun fusing everything together. The end result, unlike one might imagine, is anything but conspicuous. On the contrary, the basin sits discreetly near the back of the office, now part of the design studio’s everyday.

Rather pleased with the outcome of this project, Michel has started to think beyond the sink, extending its metal surface into the kitchen. Imagining a sleek worktop that continues out of the curvaceous dip of the washbasin, this new iteration is designed with a single-material rationale. Articulating itself around the sink, the stainless steel becomes a seamless worktop allowing the kitchen to come to life.

In a world where kitchens have become important spaces in their own right - giant symbols of domestic proficiency – this module is a humble response to an extensive typology. Here the design of the kitchen aspires to be as simple as possible and more importantly, designed to function like a tool and attaching as easily as a shelf to the kitchen wall.

Everything that is needed is there, nothing more and nothing less. For this culinary choreography, the sink opens and closes the show. Hands are washed, vegetables rinsed and dishes cleaned. On the floor, red and blue foot pedal valves, as if by magic, let the water flow into the sink. After some skilful ado, the meal is finally ready, and with one gesture, the remains of the delicious production are painlessly swept away into the depths of the sink – washing away all clues of the kitchen ever having come alive.

Text by Megan Dinius