The Impossible
Floating Tap
Company

Ten years of handmade floating tap water features. One obsession. Six products. Customers across the globe.

The Illusion That Started It All

Water pouring from thin air. It really does look like magic.

A tap suspended in mid-air. No visible pipe. No explanation. When you first see it, the rational part of your brain simply refuses to accept what your eyes are telling it.

The earliest known patent for a floating liquid illusion display was filed in 1991 - a commercial device designed to make liquid appear to pour from an unattached spigot. From there the concept spread, most famously to Aqualand in Spain, where El grifo mágico — the Magic Tap — became one of the most photographed landmarks on the Costa de la Luz.

Giant versions followed: Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, public parks across Spain, Butlins in Skegness, Belgium, Switzerland, the United States, Canada. What started as an engineering curiosity became a global phenomenon.

The question nobody had answered was a simple one: why couldn't this come home?

How the illusion works
1
The hidden pipe A transparent pipe runs up through the centre of the water column, invisible behind the falling water.
2
Water travels upward A pump below pushes water up through the pipe to the tap above — the opposite of what it appears to do.
3
Turbulence hides everything The turbulent falling water conceals the pipe completely. From every angle — the illusion holds.
The Story

Bringing the Impossible Home

1991

The first patent

The earliest known patent for a floating liquid illusion display is filed — a commercial-scale device for trade shows and exhibitions. The technology exists. Nobody has made it domestic.

2000s

Theme parks take notice

Giant floating tap installations appear at water parks across Europe and beyond. They become landmarks — photographed by thousands of visitors. Still nothing you can bring home.

2014

The Impossible Floating Tap Company is founded

Established in Oxfordshire with one idea: create a properly made, domestically scaled floating tap water feature. Solid brass, copper, no plastic — available to order, designed for everyday gardens and homes.

2014–2024

The range grows

Starting with a single design, the collection expands one feature at a time. The Valve. The Spring. The Cooper. The Grand. The Station. Each one built to order, each one better than the last.

Today

Still focused. Still handmade.

Ten years on, every feature is still built, painted, tested and packed by hand in Oxfordshire. The plan hasn't changed — make the best floating tap water features available anywhere.

Our Approach

One focus. No shortcuts.

There were others on the market when we started. Rather than follow what already existed, the goal was to do it our own way — design something built to last, offer it in a range of styles and colours, and keep improving it. No shortcuts, no plastic, no compromise on quality.

While others have moved on or diversified, The Impossible Floating Tap Company has stayed focused. Floating tap water features are all we make. All we think about. All we've done for ten years.

That focus shows in the product. Solid brass tap. Hand-soldered copper spout. Hand-painted, lacquered finish. A pump specifically chosen for low noise and long life. Every detail considered, every feature tested before it leaves.

10+
Years making floating tap water features in Oxfordshire
6
Distinct handmade designs, each built to order

No plastic. No shortcuts. No compromise on quality — that hasn't changed since the first prototype.

From Oxfordshire to everywhere.

Features from the collection have been installed in home gardens, pub courtyards, hotel lobbies, international expos, shop fronts, offices, ponds and lakes — and if the emails are anything to go by, a Victorian stone sink, a repurposed cattle trough, the corner of a swimming pool, and at least one very ambitious garden gnome display.

If it holds water, someone has probably tried it.

Home gardens & patios
Pub & restaurant gardens
Hotel lobbies & courtyards
Shop fronts & offices
International convention displays
Garden ponds & lakes
And at least one cattle trough
Still at it

Every feature still leaves our hands.

Every feature that leaves us has been made by hand, tested, and packed by the same small team that started this in 2014. That hasn't changed and we don't intend it to.

Thank you for supporting something genuinely handmade.

Mike & Sam Whitehouse The Impossible Floating Tap Company · Oxfordshire · Est. 2014

Ready to see one?

Every feature is made to order. Pick your style, choose your colour, and we'll build it for you.

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