About | Pop up my Bathroom
Photo: Constantin Meyer, Die Vereinigung Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e.V. (VDS)
Information Platform for Creative Bathroom Planning, Architecture and Design
Pop up my Bathroom, an initiative of the German Sanitary Industry
Association (Vereinigung Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e.V. VDS) and
Messe Frankfurt established in conjunction with the ISH, is an
experimental platform for architects, bathroom planners, interior
designers and journalists.
˝Let's talk about the bathroom. Every single day.˝ With this goal in mind, the ˝Pop up my Bathroom˝ campaign that was launched to accompany the world-class ISH 2009 trade fair in Frankfurt has now gone online permanently with extended content and functions. The International Information Platform for Creative Bathroom Planning, Architecture and Design, to call it by its full name, is co-financed by Messe Frankfurt and sponsored by the VDS.
Pop up my Bathroom aims to provide bathroom planners, architects, interior designers, trend researchers, industry players, dealers and tradesmen with new impetus for modern bathroom planning and point out the possibilities it holds for the bathroom culture of an individualistic society. The focus is on material and colour trends, unusual ideas and reference projects as well as the latest innovations and products from brand-name manufacturers. Survey results, statements, interviews and an interactive trend archive put the finishing touches to the wide-ranging content. The site also integrates various social media.
It aims
to explore and illustrate what possibilities the bathroom can offer people as
an aesthetic and functional space. On the one hand, it gives experts a chance
to find out about new developments, on the other hand it aims to convert the
designs it develops into pictures that will be understood all over the world. The
website www.pop-up-my-bathroom.de has therefore been expanded into a
continuously updated blog that serves as a communication platform. Until the next ISH opens its
doors, it informs professionals and interested consumers not just about the Pop
up my Bathroom trends but about the latest developments in various segments of
the sanitary industry as well.
“Pop up my Bathroom” trend exhibition at ISH Digital 2021
The story of Pop up my Bathroom
It all began at ISH 2009: ‘Pop up my Bathroom’ made its debut with the first definition of bathroom trends and a small exhibition at the stand of the German Sanitary Industry Association (VDS). Ten trends identified by the Cologne-based agency FAR.consulting – ranging from ‘Soft Bathroom’ and ‘Green Bathroom’ to ‘Private Spa’ – demonstrated for the first time how the bathroom was evolving as a living space.
The experiment became an institution. Since then, Pop up my Bathroom – a joint trend platform managed by FAR.consulting on behalf of the German Sanitary Industry Association (VDS) and Messe Frankfurt, or rather the world’s leading trade fair ISH – has been analysing, in step with the ISH, the social, design and technological developments surrounding the bathroom, and translating them into trend scenarios, exhibitions and trend books. Whether it was the lifestyle typologies of 2015, the ‘Individualisation’ trend show in 2017, the ‘Colour’ megatrend at ISH 2019, or the digital 3D tour exploring the symbiosis of technology ‘behind’ and design ‘in front of the wall’ at ISH digital 2021: each edition reflected the spirit of its time. In 2023, the major questions of the future came into focus with ‘Sustainable’, ‘Tiny’, ‘Wellbeing’ and ‘Emotional Bathroom’; in 2025, the ‘Human Scale’ concept placed people at the centre as the benchmark.
Today, Pop up my Bathroom is far more than just a trade fair presentation: it is a year-round information platform for creative bathroom design – and a guide for anyone planning the bathroom of tomorrow. The complete history of trends since 2009 can be found in the trend archive.