London on Tap winner announced
3 December 2008
London Mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled the winner of the London on Tap carafe design competition.
Industrial designer Neil Barron’s Tap Top, which features four drip-free pouring spouts and a waist to trap ice-cubes when pouring, is the winning design.
Resembling a stylised tap fixture, the carafe will be available in at least two colours, and can fit inside a standard fridge door.
Tap Top will be mass-manufactured in England in January, before going on sale to London’s restaurants, bars and cafes in the spring.
Organised by Thames Water and the Mayor of London, the environmental campaign London on Tap aims to reduce usage of bottled mineral water in restaurants, bars and cafes.
Barron has previously created products for Intel, Boots, The Body Shop and Lego, and is a part-time tutor at the Royal College of Art.
The designer describes his carafe as ‘tall, tapered and elegant, yet contemporary, like an inverted rocket’.
Johnson awarded Barron a GBP 5000 prize at a ceremony at London’s City Hall. The Mayor professed to being ‘hugely impressed by the magnitude of London-based design talent that this competition has revealed.’
