The panel behind this stark matte steel sink has a patch in the centre that's been polished to shine like a mirror.
Called Pretty in Prison, the piece by Canadian studio The Practice of Everyday Design is made of stainless steel, selectively polished by hand so that no two sinks look the same.
"The idea was to give it a sense of time, as if someone had sat there every day scrubbing the surface until it was so clean it became a mirror," says Antoine Morris. "The final effect is also almost as if the sink is covered in condensation and someone wiped just one area clean to see themselves."
A prototype of the design was shown at Cooper Cole Gallery in Toronto as part of an exhibition called Shiny Pretty Things during Toronto Design Offsite Festival last month, where Pretty in Prison picked up a Juror's Choice award at the TO DO Awards presented by Herman Miller.
Other mirrors on Dezeen include hinged brass mirrors that look like butterflies, a mirror with blurry edges that reflects a rather dreamy image of its surroundings one concealing a secret passageway beneath a railway bridge.
The same effect can be done with a heat mat behind a regular mirror to prevent them steaming up when you come out of the shower. But I guess that’s not the point.
I liked it better when Suppose Design Office did it.
Yeah and I liked it better before Damian Hirst was called an artist.
A poetic and beautifully proportioned piece.
Very stunning piece. It manages to be both stark and warm in a beautiful way.