40 years of design in the bathroom. Hansgrohe has witnessed and helped shape the change from a wet cell to the bathroom being an extension of living space. Design has conquered, cultivated and beautified the bathroom bit by bit. Today the demand for design isn’t restricted only to individual products, but increasingly covers complete product collections and the room as a whole. There are good reasons why the relationship of water – man – space is the focal point of the design process at Axor. In retrospect the changes and the definitive influences become clear – and the direction towards which the most important trends are moving.
When in 1968 Hansgrohe started to work with design in the bathroom, technological progress and comfortable bathroom facilities were a priority for the industry as well as for the customer. During the 1980s design was incorporated: the fittings expressed the modern zeitgeist, of colourful garish originality and shiny luxury. Even if the idea of collections was followed to some extent and the fittings were at times already coordinated with the ceramics, design objects looked rather isolated. Only by achieving a high technological standard, a generally growing demand for design in the living space and an increasing desire for wellbeing, which pushed the transformation of the bathroom from a purely functional place for hygiene to a living space, did aesthetics become the generator of all bathroom design.
The world too has moved into the bathroom: cosmopolitan flair, maritime still life or distant exoticism, the rural idyll of the beaches of New England or the hills of Provence have in a style-conscious way displaced the pragmatic wet-cell and the unimaginative comfort bathroom.
The designer bathroom – a revolution from above
A change induced by the market and society is just as difficult to reduce to individual factors as the change in the bathroom. However, some trends, which proved to be sustainable and are still persisting, can still be identified. In the beginning of the 1990s the “Starck bathroom” started the ball rolling. It stirred desire and eventually caused a surge in designer bathrooms. This is not to say that there was nothing comparable before – above all, the collection of Luigi Colani for Villeroy & Boch is unforgotten, for it had already become legendary in the 1970s. But Philippe Starck and the participating companies Hoesch Design (bathtubs and shower trays), Duravit (sanitation ceramics and furniture) as well as Axor (bathroom fittings and accessories) revolutionised the bathroom: sanitation objects became furniture, the bathroom a lounge.
This trend has clearly gained momentum during the last 10 years or so and influenced bathroom design. For many the bathroom has become a private island. Not a low-maintenance functional cell, but an individual room for one’s wellbeing. What followed has been the increasingly holistic view of the totally private bathroom. Antonio Citterio must have been one of the first architects and designers who separated the bathroom into utilisation zones. The reason why the Axor Massaud bathroom, which was showcased in 2006, has been so popular can possibly be found in the fact that it manages to create a symbiosis between man, nature and space. The perfect balance of space and products and the combination of natural shapes and the minimalist aesthetics of Axor Massaud inspire real emotions in us.
The latest Axor collection too could be writing bathroom history. Because Axor Citterio M, the second fittings collection of the famous architect and designer from Milan, Antonio Citterio, could be contributing to the fact that good design in our bathrooms will become standard. The product range is comprehensive, very flexible, efficient in its use of space and functional. And it also manages the surprising feat of being able to appear extremely light and yet display a strong sensual presence. With this Axor Citterio M has found what it takes to become indispensable in the contemporary urban living environment.
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