SCULPTOR David Harber has designed the first public drinking fountain to be unveiled in Hyde Park in more than 30 years.
He was asked to come up with a striking design but which was robust and practical.
Mr Harber, winner of the small business section in the 2006 Henley Standard Business Awards, created a sphere-shaped fountain made from stainless steel and set on a granite plinth.
It is 1.2m in diameter, studded with bronze petals and has four separate drinking positions, each catering for people of different heights, as well as a spout where water bottles can be filled.
The £30,000 fountain is designed to be used by the thousands of runners, riders, dog walkers and cyclists who use the London park every day instead of having to carry bottled water.
Mr Harber, who used to live in Bix but recently moved to Wallingford, called the bottled water industry “absurd”.
“I was in the Middle East recently and the bottled water came from Fiji. It does not make sense,” he said.
The fountain was commissioned by the Royal Parks Foundation, the charitable arm of the body that runs London’s eight royal parks, and was donated by Michael Freeman, a trustee of the foundation and joint founder of Argent Group, the developer of the ongoing King’s Cross Central project.
For more information, visit www.davidharber.com
Published on 12 October 2009
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