Guest bathrooms have become an established part of modern life. Nearly half of all German households have such a bathroom, and they are seen as essential when planning new homes. Cubbyholes that used to house the vacuum cleaner, toilet paper and other odds and ends have been transformed into imaginatively individual oases of well-being.
We make ourselves comfortable in our homes instead of going out and we invite our friends instead of having dinner in a restaurant. This trend called homing has become a lifestyle. And this lifestyle is about to enter the last bastion of our homes: The bathroom. The bathroom is becoming a comfort zone.
The dynamic development of the bathroom is being shaped by several trends at once. In particular, the bathroom is where the “Homing” and “Wellness” megatrends meet, leading to fundamental changes in the function and appearance of this space. Our bathrooms are increasingly coming to resemble small-scale wellness temples – with all the equipment that involves.
With meTime_spa Keuco presents an elegant kind of concealed thermostat for the shower and bath, with lots of shelf space and its own unique design. Large format glass plates in two sizes add colourful accents in a matt or lustred finish. The special coating on the glass surface allows water droplets to simply roll off.
For steel enamel specialists Bette, made-to-measure bathroom items are by no means unfamiliar territory. Nowadays, about half of all the tubs, shower trays and washbasins that leave the factory are individual, made-to-order solutions. For both the bathroom planner and the end customer, this opens up totally new perspectives for bathroom design: a customised bathtub or cut-off corners that allow enough space for the bathroom door to swing open are just as feasible as an upstand that makes a silicone seal along the edge of the tub superfluous.
New achievement in water design: With its revolutionary washbasin mixer Starck V Axor is introducing the vitality and emotionality of water in its purest form. In collaboration with Philippe Starck the brand’s first transparent mixer was brought to life, and it shows an intensive water experience with a fascinating vortex.
These are good times for a crossover player: born in New York in 1962, Oliver Conrad is a craftsman, architect, producer, entrepreneur and designer. After training as a carpenter, he graduated in architecture and subsequently focused on various architectural projects. Then, in 1990, the "Oliver Conrad Collection" was launched – a furniture line that has been selling successfully ever since.
Michael Schmidt is a successful designer and networker. He enjoys bringing the right people together to get new projects off the ground. He lives in Stuttgart (Germany) and runs there a studio with the name code2design.
Ulli Finkeldey and Kai Uetrecht think in systems and believe in the big picture. Under the name Nexus Product Design they are active in many different fields. But in view of the wide variety products they have created for the sanitary sector, the duo can certainly be regarded as specialists for this segment.
The Gritti Palace Hotel in Venice is a five-star establishment of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Luxury Collection. Matching the stylish design of the guest rooms, the bathrooms of the hotel are furnished with baths made of steel enamel by Kaldewei.