“Less, but better” is a very familiar concept to those who speak the language of design, since its original formulation by Dieter Rams in postwar decades until today, when it is proving to be ever more strikingly relevant. The challenge of design is to recognize contemporary needs so as to redefine the functions of objects in order to give such needs answers that are contemporary. This is the experimental realm where Franke – a global leader in intelligent home kitchen systems and solutions with its Franke Home Solutions division – aims at positioning, applying a vision of re-functionalization to home environment: reducing the plethora of objects and devices that crowd it, aggregating functions and increasing the quality of home life. “Being able to do more things with a single object” is the answer Charles Eames – another seminal name in the history of modern design – would address to Rams.
Applied to domestic water consumption for the kitchen, the philosophy of re-functionalization thus calls into question design as a system of aesthetic and functional choices, as well as of organoleptic and health qualities to be ensured.
Franke’s Mythos multifunctional mixers are an integrated solution allowing to instantly select and dispense the water type needed by users. In fact, Mythos Water Hub Sparkling adds three filtered water options to the standard choices of hot and cold water: room-temperature, chilled, to reduce the need for ice, and sparkling. Mythos Water Hub All-In-One adds instant boiling water to these options.
The reduction in space and resource consumption becomes evident, with one extremely compact device installable under the kitchen sink; water gassers and kettles are no longer needed, and refrigerator and freezer space is freed from the bottles usually used to refrigerate water. The purchase of still and sparkling water bottles also goes off the list of necessities, bringing a 99 percent reduction in the purchase of plastic bottles.
These are some of the reasons that earned three prizes to this project at the Kitchen Innovation Awards, including Best Innovation of 2024, a character that “shines through in our products, designed to support consumers in their daily lives and meet their needs for functionality, sustainability and design”, as Emanuele Ciappelloni, Head of Global Category Management at Franke Home Solutions, commented.
The design of Mythos Water Hub aims to make it a smart solution in the different meanings of the term: of use as well as of technological content. In fact, an electronic control combined with LED indication allows operations on the multifunctional system – pressing the control to activate the system, the desired water function has to be selected and holding the control the flow starts, and pressing it twice a preset quantity of 0.5, 1 or 2 liters can be obtained – while through the dedicated Franke app quantities can be changed, or parameters such as the percentage of carbon dioxide, to obtain more or less sparkling water. The innovative dimension also involves the filtration process, in the 5 stages through which the Pro M Connect filter removes harmful contaminants, including toxic metals, chlorine and other organic substances such as pesticides and microplastics, down to a 5-micron scale, all while preserving healthy minerals such as calcium and magnesium.