BROOKLYN – Watermark Designs, the Brooklyn-based designers and manufacturers of bathroom and kitchen fixtures and faucets announced that their Elan Vital faucet collection has won the 2014 KB Culture Award for Bathroom Fittings.

“Elan Vital wins not just for its urban attitude [it’s even fabricated in hipster-central, Brooklyn], but for its customizable qualities,” said judge and KB Culture founder Leslie Clagett.

“We are thrilled to have won this award,” says Avi Abel, president of Watermark Designs. “It’s always meaningful when industry experts appreciate the work you do. Because Elan Vital has such a specific look as well as its completely custom capabilities, we weren’t sure exactly how the industry would respond. However, since its introduction we have been receiving incredible feedback and we are very grateful.”

A complete collection, Elan Vital is available as a widespread, elevated widespread, single-handle wall mounted, widespread-wall mounted, two-handle wall mounted, bridge wall mount, wall mount, deck mount, floor mount with hand shower and thermostatic shower.

About The KB Culture Awards 

Each year, KBCULTURE holds up a lens to an exclusive crop of kitchen and bath products, and singles out a select few for recognition in our annual awards program. Rewarding aesthetic excellence and technological innovation is always a pleasure, but there’s more to the evaluation process than a simple thumbs up or down.

Having a well-rounded perspective on the subject is important. An awareness of the history of the industry is indispensable when claims of ‘new’ and ‘improved’ are made. A tangent to this point is the issue of counterfeit or knock-off designs. Imitation may be a form of flattery, but originality demands respect.

More current knowledge is plays a role, too. Tracking global conditions—not just economic indicators but natural resource availability, population demographics, and political developments, as well—can yield significant clues about the future viability of a product. Fleeting novelty or genuine breakthrough: it’s a critical distinction.

In this fifth year of the awards, the judges were KB Culture Founder Leslie Clagett and Rita Catinella Orrell, previously products editor of Architectural Record and current editor of two influential blogs, www.designythings.com and www.architects-toybox.com.

About Watermark Designs

For more than three decades, Watermark Designs has been a leading manufacturer of decorative plumbing fixtures, bathroom accessories, lighting and elegant hardware for the luxury commercial and residential markets. Based in the independent design hub of Brooklyn and made in the USA, Watermark’s designs are a reflection of the creative melting-pot from which they hail. As a true-manufacturer, their distinctive product quality is achieved using a combination of hands-on design and development combined with state-of-the-industry equipment. Combining sustainable product design with an eye towards architectural detail, Watermark has worked with some of the world’s finest architects and designers, including the renowned Clodagh Design Studio. The ability to customize and create original product collections to meet client’s exact specifications has made the Watermark ID program one of the industry’s most successful. Watermark Designs’ elite collections have been incorporated into some of the world’s most exclusive residences, hotels and high-rises including the Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai; Trump Park Avenue, New York, NY; and The Eden Roc Hotel, Miami Beach, FL. The Brooklyn collection has even made its way to the South Street Seaport Museum, where it resides as a timeless piece of art. With their strong commitment to the environment, Watermark Designs aggressively invests in and develops new products with water-saving features while implementing environmentally-safe manufacturing practices. In 2012, the Luxury Shower System (LSS) was awarded a GREEN GOOD DESIGN™ Award by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. Visit Watermark Designs at www.watermark-designs.com. For additional information, contact DRS and Associates at 818.981.8210 or www.drsandassociates.com.