Michael Foley: EDIDA India 2015 Bathware winner

Michael Foley, founder of Bengaluru based Foley Designs Pvt Ltd, created much buzz with his EDIDA winning faucet designed for Jaquar’s luxury bath brand Artize. A prolific creative, he started his journey as a graduate from NID in 1994, post which he joined Titan as a watch designer and worked with the brand for 13 years. From styling sunglasses and watches, to initiating new ideas, he finally moved on and set up his own design practice in 2007.
His company is renowned for its consultancy – from product, environment and branding to graphics and packaging, it provides design solutions to a variety of brands. “The common denominator to all our work is intelligent thinking blended with simplicity,” avers Michael.
In his diverse portfolio, one among the many projects that stands out is the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games baton that showcased the seamless union of craftsmanship and technology. “For designing the baton we created a pattern with soil from different states of India on a gold and aluminum body. Enabled with technology, it also changes colour whenever it is in a different country. The GPS inside it sends the data about the baton’s location and accordingly, the colour of the country’s flag is displayed on it,” he avers.
The EDIDA 2015 winning Tiara for Artize is a sculptural faucet with inner concentric rings that allow water to run at a steady speed and when swung back, seamlessly shut the water without a drop spilt. While the ideation took just two months, the engineering and prototyping stretched to almost a year.  “The only hiccup we faced was that most faucets allow hot and cold water with a choice of direction. Here, the product offers only a single function, so we had to create a change in people’s minds about it,” says Michael. Another challenge was to provide the faucet a sleek, mirror finish which required high workmanship. Finally, he toyed with the idea of making it an expandable product – how can this design be mirrored in an entire collection?
Currently, Foley Designs Pvt Ltd is venturing into public designs to create products and experiences for commuters, pedestrians and public. “Whether its accessorising for spaces like airports, bus stands to water fountains, seating systems, we are hoping we to find interested companies that could help us fund these ideas,” concludes Michael.
Website: www.foleydesigns.com
Also read: Pop colours for a modern bathroom