The new bathroom: so universal, so personal

After more than a decade of photography in which the atmosphere, light and setting shifted the attention from the product itself to the image it created, the bathrooms exhibited at this year's Cersaie have no image but are rooms full of utensils expressed in many different versions in terms of size, forms, types and materials, entirely in the designer's and the user's hands.
No scenery is required for the Axor Bouroullec collection, in which the emphasis is on the many possible configurations of the components and the freedom they offer. The design, usability and innovative nature of the products are expressed with new honesty in Ritmonio taps, Kaldewei tubs, Samo shower stalls and Hafro home spas, in a return to the value of ergonomics in the medium price range (though still at the high end in terms of quality and taste) which was missing for so many years.

'Primitive gestures common to all social classes and cultures' allowed Gordon Guillaumier to design the new universal Glaze bathroom fixtures for Azzurra, just as Paolo Schianchi did a number of years ago with his Weg sinks for Disegno Ceramica, now back with basins in different colours, like customised versions of archetypical forms.
Having reached a level of technological accomplishment that allows their designers to draw inspiration from a great variety of materials, from cement to wood and metal, ceramic surfaces might be considered equivalent to the infinite possible colours of paint, in that it is our ability as writers that makes all the difference when using them.

The concept of modularity moulded on the basis of the user's desires is expressed by FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti in Pierre de Bourgogne tiles inspired by stones quarried in the Burgundy region of France, by Iris Ceramica's strips of E-wood redesigning ceramics on the basis of the image and shape of wood, or Granitifiandre's ability to give porcelain stoneware the appearance of cement in big 300x150 slabs 3 to 6 mm thick.
The freedom of composition permitted by the world of ceramics approaches the concept of modularity expressed by LucidiPevere in the Osmos interior decoration system made by Glass, in which standardised elements are used to design spaces for hammams, showers, tubs and bathing areas of all kinds, becoming multifunctional due to their compositional flexibility.

01. Granitifiandre, Aster Maximum Mercury collection www.granitifiandre.com
02. FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti, Pierre de Bourgogne tiles www.irisfmg.com
03. Iris Ceramica, E-wood white Active collection www.irisceramica.com
04. Hafro, Rigenera home spa
05. Samo, Vis shower stall
06. Disegno Ceramica, Weg bathroom fixtures designed by Paolo Schianchi
07. Axor, taps and sinks from the Axor Bouroullec collection, designed by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec
08. Azzurra, Glaze bathroom fixtures designed by Gordon Guillaumier
09. Ritmonio, Aquapassion taps designed by Peter Jamieson; Fever taps, Ritmonio designLAB
10. Glass furnishing system for the Osmos bathroom, designed by LucidiPevere

Mara Corradi

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