Sarah Lavoine designs for Axor a a place of meditation

The separate bathroom of the Axor Distinctive project by Maison Sarah Lavoine, located directly by the sea, aims to exude an idyllic, nostalgic flair.
Photos: hasngrohe SE
Paris-based interior designer Sarah Poniatowski and founder of Maison
Sarah Lavoine, is internationally known for her surprising mix of styles,
colours and materials. As part of the Axor Distinctive project, she designed a
bathroom concept that immediately makes this mixture clear.
Set beside the sea, the detached bathroom of a holiday home in the South
of France evokes an idyllic, even nostalgic, quality. “I have a deep connection
with the south-west region of France,” the designer explains. “It’s so
authentic, and nature is everywhere. It’s the most relaxing place in the world
for me. This is where the inspiration stems from. The goal was to emphasize the
surroundings with an indoor-outdoor bathroom and create a relaxing space with a
summer holiday feeling.” Products from the Axor Starck collection were used for this concept.
Dissolution of the boundary between inside and outside

Boundaries dissolved: Inside and outside merge fluidly.
Photo: hasngrohe SE
In her bathroom concept, Poniatowski pursued the plan to dissolve the
boundaries between the indoors and the natural elements. “The multiple entries
and the full, open windows reflect the need to connect with nature and the
surroundings,” she explains. “The room is as open as the mind of the
individual.” The interior designer conceived the bathroom for a personality who
is “curious about everything”, and who “loves to travel the world yet knows
when to stand still and contemplate. Someone who enjoys the fast pace of life
but knows that to do so, you also need to take your time and take care of
yourself. A loving, sharing person.”
Inside the house, natural materials such as raw pine and travertine fill
the interior, striped in sunlight that passes through folding windows with
wooden louvres. The shower and bath area, flowing through a teak-framed doorway
and onto a shaded terrace structured with exposed pine beams, is covered with
turquoise tiles. In the external shower area, the interior design finds its
seamless continuation. There, the Axor Starck Nature Shower was chosen to
underline the effect of this area with its simple elegance and beauty.
Contrasts for balance

The contrasting combination of materials and colours should define a personal sphere and create the right balance.
Photo: hansgrohe SE
The bathroom itself Poniatowski describes as “a place where you can
daydream yet relax, be creative yet stand still, enjoy the outside while being
in your very own bubble. It’s all about balance. Hence the choice to play with
contrasts.” In the bathroom, this is particularly evident in the choice of colours.
Pairing aubergine with emerald-blue, teal with pale pinks and yellows, the
palette reflects “a creative, dynamic spirit,” she explains. The same principle,
the designer goes on, extends to the choice of materials, which “bring a strong
sense of authenticity and are a good balance with the contemporary design of
the faucet created by Philippe Starck, the bathtub and the basin.”
The Starck collection in the Finish-Plus surface Brushed Bronze is
intended to give Poniatowski's concept a refined, minimalist touch. “The design
of the AXOR Starck collection is very distinctive,” the designer observes. “It
was important to create a setting in line with it: Emphasize it but don’t
overwhelm it, and vice versa.” Thus, two Axor Starck faucets set accents on the
travertine washbasin, an effect repeated at the bathtub with a floor-standing Axor
Starck faucet. Featured both indoors and out, the slender Axor Starck Shower
Column, on the other hand, follows the linearity of the long, exposed pine
beams and contrasts with the idiosyncratic Zellige tiles. The look is
complemented with Axor Universal Circular Accessories.