Client:
For over 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. Combining sustainable product design with an eye towards architectural detail, their distinctive product quality is achieved using a combination of hands-on design and development combined with state-of-the-industry equipment.
Challenge:
The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (known as ICFF) is North America’s premier showcase for global design, mapping the new frontier of what’s best and what’s next in one jam-packed trade show and exhibition. In May 2013, Watermark Designs exhibited at this important design showcase held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City and unveiled a number of new faucet and fixture collections. Since this was Watermark’s first exhibition at ICFF, it was important not only to showcase their new products in an original way but to boldly introduce the Watermark brand to an audience who may not be familiar with it. DRS and Associates was called upon to create a booth that accurately represented Watermark’s innovative designs while staying true to the brand’s “Made in Brooklyn” heritage and aesthetic.
Solution:
We created a standout exhibition booth from the ground up, designed to be a visual representation of the thriving borough of Brooklyn. CEO, and an innovative 
designer in his own right, David Schlocker personally created the concept and helped design and assemble the booth on-site using building products such as cardboard cylinders to create stanchions, walls, tables, furniture and columns. Adding an essential element to the look and feel of the space, Avi Abel of Watermark selected another innovative Brooklyn-based company to “flavor” Watermark’s booth: Flavor Paper, who produce hand-screened wallpaper in their “Flavor Lab” in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn. Watermark’s booth wall designs made use of two Brooklyn themes: Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO Wall.
This Brooklyn backdrop was perfect for showcasing Watermark’s latest products and introducing their new Zen Collection, comprised of stone faucet handles, carved by Stone Forest, and rocks hand-picked from the shores of Lake Michigan. This innovative collection uses rare earth magnets in lieu of set screws to secure the handles, giving them a natural look and feel. Display tables showed off the Zen Collection, allowing visitors to see the different rock handles up close and interact with the products by mix and matching handles with lav faucets.
Because collaboration with designers is another important aspect of Watermark Designs, the wall displays highlighted Watermark’s designer collections – showing preliminary design sketches side by side with actual pieces from the finished lines. These designer collaborations include the Brooklyn Collection designed in collaboration with Incorporated Architecture & Design, Sense 27 designed with the Clodagh Signature Studio, and Chelsea designed with Bob Gifford, Director of Hastings Tile & Bath.
As a finishing touch, we incorporated Watermark’s custom “newsbills” to decorate the booth and to distribute throughout the show. Printed up to look like newspapers, these publications featured information about Watermark that visitors and designers could take home with them. As a result of our attention to detail, Watermark received a lot of traffic to its unique ICFF display. The booth allowed visitors to fully immerse themselves in the Watermark brand by experiencing the products up close in an environment that made them feel right in the midst of the city. As a result, DRS and Associates was able to successfully show off a brand whose Brooklyn DNA is interwoven into their designs.
Wait until you see what David and Avi dreamed up for 2014.
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