Interior culture always adapts to the circumstances in society. And since our modern lifestyle is influenced by an increasing blurring of the borders between our private and social lives, more and more people are calling for less rigid ways of living. Thereby the bathroom is becoming cosier too. But there is still a huge gap between the desire for creative freedom and the practicable solutions. And that gap Burgbad wants to close.
Ulli Finkeldey and Kai Uetrecht are Nexus Product Design and, together with bathroom furniture manufacturer Burgbad, responsible for the development of the bathroom furniture concept rc40. In time for this year's ISH, the innovative module system has been enhanced and extended by the addition of various new components. The collection gives architects and bathroom planners totally new possibilities for structuring the space commonly known as the "bathroom". In an interview, the two Bielefeld-based designers explain their ideas and visions of what living in this space can be like.
Brushes and aftershave, lipsticks and cotton pads. The bathroom can quickly become full of a whole host of different products. Intelligent interiors for drawers offer individual solutions for well-sorted storage space.
Individualisation remains one of the strongest trends of the present day. More and more people are taking advantage of the many opportunities to express their individuality, also in their home interiors. Villeroy & Boch has seized upon this trend and playfully interpreted it to create a new complete series for the bathroom.
With the Joyce collection Villeroy & Boch is presenting a concept that redefines individualisation in the bathroom and wants to give it a completely new, ground-breaking dimension. Joyce gives users diverse options to play with forms, colours and accessories and thus to shape the bathroom in line with their own individual ideas. In the interview, designer Annette Maria Sonntag talks about the development of Joyce.
For friends of freestanding seamless monolithic baths made in steel-enamel, the company Bette from Delbrück in East Westphalia, Germany, has a special optical solution: some of the series are also available in the Bicolour version, that is, in two colours. The colour changes right at the transition point between bath rim and bath body, which gives even circular baths a straight lined character trait.
Baked earth is one of the oldest building materials there is – this is such common knowledge that there's no need to cite the ancient Babylonians or – as is more oft en the case – the ancient Romans as proof. Even if we do have the latter to thank for the realisation that "baked earth" isn't just great for building with.
Where in our homes do we find relaxation? In front of the television, most people would say, and perhaps while we're cooking, and maybe ... when we're taking a bath. Or a shower. It's not unusual to lose track of time then. It doesn't matter whether you're getting ready to go to the cinema, reading the newspaper or enjoying the last quarter of an hour before bed.
We want to have it even better in our bathrooms in future. And we want the ultimate in technical convenience too. But without any complicated gimmicks, if you please, so that everyone can use it and we can all live barrierfree lives. It should be natural too, of course - and ecologically compatible. An exciting task for the industry, its designers and architects.
Busy Bathroom, Bathroom Bubble and Bathroom (R)Evolution – those are the titles of the most important developments taking place in bathroom design right now, discovered for the campaign “Pop up my Bathroom”. They describe the trends “Up close and personal”, “Room to retreat” and “On the way to an intelligent feel-good machine”. They have been compiled and described by one of the sanitary industry’s most influential umbrella organisations, the German Sanitary Industry Association (Vereinigung Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e.V., VDS), in collaboration with trend researchers. In the first part of the big interview with Jens Wischmann, the managing director of the VDS talks about the progress of this campaign.