This week’s instalment of Project of the Week series features a luxurious and warm bathroom design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Crimson Park Design.
An 80’s-era ensuite bathroom in Bellevue, WA, USA is opened up to solve outdated design and inefficient geometry. Featured are custom Sinker Cypress vanity, linen cabinet, and a 48” wide barn-style door with header and column, also of Sinker Cypress. A white ofuro-style tub, backed by new floor-to-ceiling glazing, sits in a stream of black polished river stones extending along the East wall under the vanity. Full slab, sumi-e-esque quartz lines the shower. Large field, textured Italian porcelain tile runs, offset, from West to East and up the wall behind the vanity. “When I walk into my bathroom I feel like a queen.” – Client, M. Chandler.
SBID Awards Category: KBB
Practice: Crimson Park Design
Project: Chandler Bath Oasis
Location: Washington, United States
I wanted to create a space that would allow my client to feel that her bathroom is a place of refuge; a place where she can begin and end her day at an arm’s length from the stress of life; a place to feel refreshed. I was fortunate enough to be given the creative freedom to incorporate some of my artistic sensibility into the design. After having As-Builts created, I began to sketch conceptual shapes in plan view, with the goal of keeping the main plumbing sites relatively intact. I like to work with organic shapes, and Mary gave me a bit of a free hand in coming up with design elements. In my art I tend to use circles, spirals, and other curving lines. I let instinct guide my pencil to create lines that would soften the space and hard angles that draw the eye around the room. I, then, scaled the concept back to reality and budget, keeping one curving line for the black river rock stream. The tile was cut to my hand drawn line that had been translated to a template by the CAD tech.
The most challenging part of the project was tackling the angle of the bedroom-to-bath transition hallway relative to the opening of the bathroom, in order to enclose the space, reducing the draft. I designed the Sinker Cypress header and column to properly catch the bespoke sliding door. It took a couple of iterations but I’m pleased with the result, which is a monolithic, yet in-scale, practical and user-friendly design element, warming the space both literally and aesthetically.
The highlights of any project for me are the joy of problem solving and collaboration with the client, craftsmen, and contractors through the design and build process; seeing all of the components come together as I envisioned; and delighting my client. A happy client is the best reward.
When the Chandler Bath Oasis was complete, I felt that something special had been created. I wanted to put it out into the world to gauge the response. I aimed high when entering the SBID Awards; it is clear that the SBID recognizes design excellence. I appreciate the thoughtfulness I sense from the organization, and the sense of community that the SBID works to create. Crimson Park Design is incredibly honoured to be recognized as a finalist by the SBID, validating my instinct about the strength of my design, and the work of my partners.
Questions answered by Shelli Park, Principal, Crimson Park Design.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s design!
If you missed the last instalment of Project of the Week, featuring a light luxurious show home design by Elicyon, click here to read it.
As a contrast to the hectic outside world, consumers are looking for valuable me-time to relax body, mind, and soul. At home, the bathroom is often a vital place for finding a moment of peace.
Providing the right products to meet customers’ high demands and helping them to create their own personal retreats is key, with awareness around wellness and health at an all-time high. In response to the growing health and wellness trend, GROHE, a leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, is extending its premium product portfolio with the reinvented GROHE Allure line and the new GROHE Rainshower Aqua Body sprays for an enhanced shower experience. No matter if you are designing a spa landscape for a resort or a private bathroom, GROHE offers the freedom to tailor the space to your customers’ needs.
Progressive designs and carefully chosen materials, finishes, and colours, combined with high-end technology, will stand out in any bathroom project.
“These exclusive new products are especially dedicated to architects and designers who want to transform their clients’ bathrooms into a holistic wellness oasis at home that becomes a perfect hideaway to recharge body, mind, and soul. GROHE Allure is defined by a progressive design that allows full design coordination, creating unique bathroom experiences. These memorable, unique spaces will stand out in any project. In addition, a palette of carefully curated colours and finishes enables architects and designers to add a personal touch,” says Patrick Speck, Leader, LIXIL Global Design, EMENA.
The popular GROHE Allure tap line has been updated. The design statement captivates with its minimalist and extraordinarily slim design – now even more appealing due to its refined aesthetic. By combining state-of-the-art water technology with German craftsmanship, the tap offers a distinctive highlight. Thanks to distinct haptic feedback, the precision control of the three-hole basin mixer offers a unique tactile experience and improves interaction.
The new GROHE Allure offers designers and architects the opportunity to create a perfectly harmonious bathroom experience according to their customers’ personal tastes. The versatile range also encompasses floor-mounted taps and waterfall spouts for the bathtub, which allow for a holistic, coordinated design. For tasteful accents in the bathroom, the Allure line offers a choice of different colours and finishes: Chrome, Brushed Cool Sunrise, Brushed Warm Sunset, and Hard Graphite – all perfectly coordinated with GROHE Allure Accessories.
With the Rainshower Aqua Body sprays GROHE launches a showering highlight which upgrades the daily routine with a pulsating water massage. Control is intuitive via a pop-up design: when the water is activated, the body sprays pop out of the cover plate, allowing users to switch between the Rain and Active Jet spray easily by simply turning them. When the water is turned off, the body sprays pull back and blend into the shower surround completely, resulting in a slim, minimalist design for optimised space in the shower.
Full freedom of choice is guaranteed with round and square designs, available in different GROHE Colours to match any bathroom style. Additionally, the new body sprays enable eco-conscious water usage thanks to water-saving GROHE EcoJoy technology. GROHE Rainshower Aqua Body sprays make it easy to successfully combine responsible consumption with a luxurious showering experience.
About GROHE
GROHE is a leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings. In order to offer “Pure Freude an Wasser”, every GROHE product is based on the brand values of quality, technology, design and sustainability. Focused on customer needs, GROHE thus creates intelligent, life-enhancing and sustainable product solutions that offer relevant added value – and bear the “Made in Germany” seal of quality: R&D and design are firmly anchored as an integrated process in Germany. GROHE takes its corporate responsibility very seriously and focuses on a resource-saving value chain. Since April 2020, the sanitary brand has been producing CO2-neutral* worldwide. GROHE has also set itself the goal of using plastic-free product packaging by 2021.
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Kohler, leading global brand, features eight additions to its smart home portfolio at CES 2022, focusing on enhancing wellbeing and making it easier for people to find peace of mind.
PerfectFill smart bathing technology is a smart drain, digital/app controller and bath filler. PerfectFill draws a bath to a preferred temperature and desired depth with a simple voice command or through the KOHLER Konnect app, reducing time spent monitoring the bath as it fills. Previously demonstrated as concept technology, PerfectFill will be available for purchase in May 2022.
Anthem Valves and Controls – digital valves can operate multiple outlets, integrate into the KOHLER Konnect app, can be paired with voice assistants, and offer the unique functionality of independent temperature and flow control in each outlet. Paired with the immersive sprays of the Statement showerheads, hand showers, rain heads and body sprays, Anthem upgrades the shower through innovative technology and engineering.
Purist Suspend – ceiling-mounted kitchen faucet featuring a remote puck that manages activation, temperature and volume, and a fully adjustable hose with 180-degree rotation.
Touchless Residential Bathroom Faucet – New category for Kohler, these faucets function with a simple wave of the hand, offer temperature control and operate by battery, offering an easy tech upgrade.
Kohler Power Reserve – a modular home energy storage system that pairs with solar power systems to provide homeowners with access to solar energy regardless of the weather, time of day or status of the grid.
Robern IQ Digital Lock Box – a smart lock box that offers a compact way to securely protect valuables, medication and personal items. Digital Lock Box is equipped with a touchpad panel as well as an app to set and protect your password and ensure that your items are secured.
Additional featured products coming to market in 2022 include Stillness Bath, a multi-sensory bathing experience inspired by Japanese forest bathing, and H2Wise powered by Phyn, smart water monitors designed to detect leaks and track household water usage.
About Kohler
Founded in 1873, Kohler Co. is a global leader in the design, innovation and manufacture of kitchen and bath products; luxury cabinetry, tile and lighting; engines, generators, and clean energy solutions; and owner/operator of two, five-star hospitality and golf resort destinations in Kohler, Wisconsin, and St. Andrews, Scotland.
In this week’s interview with 2021 SBID Awards winner for the Bathroom & Sanitaryware Product category, RAK Ceramics, the designer Patrick Norguet talks about the industry trends’ influence on the designing process and shares his predictions on the future bathroom design direction.
SBID Awards Category: Bathroom & Sanitaryware
Practice: RAK Ceramics
Entry: RAK Valet
It is always important to measure the reaction to a product or a collection and the industry recognition that the Award demonstrates is an important indicator of the likely success of the product once it is available commercially. For me as a designer, it is always pleasant to receive congratulations for my work and that of my team.
As with any first collaboration I spent a lot of time trying to understand a brand, its origin, its strategy, its culture, and its production capacity. RAK- Valet is the result of this research. Beyond the design, the success of a product is also about timing. RAK-Valet brings together all the elements, thus making the collection a sweet blend of elegance and modernity.
The word trend is contradictory to a designer’s work. My job is to understand the evolution that is needed related to a particular company or industrial sector. RAK Ceramics came to me as they were looking to increase the perceived value of their products, with a unique collection that has an international cultural approach. I think we succeeded in this challenge with our first collaboration.
To answer your question, which is often asked of me, my inspiration comes from my work. As a designer as well as an industrialist, I like to offer products that make sense, because there are too many objects already surrounding us. My inspiration therefore comes from a conscious and unconscious set of things that nourish my creativity according to what is needed.
It is an interesting subject because the bathroom for several years has become much more of a living space and a room in its entirety.
The notion of comfort and well-being is at the heart of the needs of our Western society. Tomorrow may be different. The density of the population has an impact on us and our living spaces, so it is therefore also necessary to think and design spaces that are more compact, but that offer quality. Bathroom design also needs to address societal challenges, like the consumption of energy and water, maintaining comfort while bringing meaning to our actions.
It would be terrible for me to settle for one award alone. To design and offer products correctly, it is important for an industrialist to establish a collaboration that lasts over time. I hope that this first collection designed for RAK Ceramics will lead to a continued relationship and to win another SBID Award in the future. In the meantime, I am focused on many projects ahead of the Milan show in April 2022.
My advice would be that it is a difficult job, which requires a lot of work and skill, but it is also a job that offers a lot of freedom. So never give up and work hard.
Questions answered by Patrick Norguet, RAK-VALET Collection Designer, RAK Ceramics.
RAK Ceramics is one of the largest ceramics’ brands in the world. Specialising in ceramic and gres porcelain wall and floor tiles and sanitaryware we produce 123 million square meters of tilesand5 million pieces of sanitaryware per year at our 22 state-of-the-art plants across the United Arab Emirates, India and Bangladesh.
If you missed last week’s Interview with the category Residential Apartment Over £1M winner IAIA – Idea Art Interior Architects, click here to read it.
Kohler, a leading global kitchen and bath brand, showcases its long-standing innovation and design leadership through a custom-created installation by New York-based artist Daniel Arsham, entitled “Stone Flow” at Design Miami/ 2021. Stone Flow explores the KOHLER x Arsham collaboration’s experimental phase and uses giant rocks to emulate the design of the innovative sink, Rock.01.
With a series of stone-like objects and forms, Arsham unveils a further exploration of his design process, which plays with organic forms found in nature. The 3D-printed Rock.01 crafted in Kohler, Wis., debuted within the Stone Flow installation in December last year and has been available for purchase since in an edition of 99. The one-of-a-kind, limited-edition sink brings together creative innovation and expert craftsmanship from Kohler and Arsham.
Within Design Miami/ 2021 Kohler presented a Design Talk, “Design in the Now: How technology and craft meet the cultural moment” on Thursday, Dec. 2 with Daniel Arsham, artist-designer; Marc Benda, Cofounder Friedman Benda; David Kohler, President and CEO Kohler; and Samuel Ross, artist-designer and moderated by Wava Carpenter, Curatorial Director Design Miami.
Additionally, Kohler features other innovative and design-forward global collections in its activations in Miami. Among them, the Occasion faucet collection that was inspired by the high fashion and effortless glamour of the Golden Age of Hollywood, offering both charm and elegance within the bathroom.
In celebration of Design Miami/ 2021, Kohler has made a contribution to DigDeep, a nonprofit working to bring clean water to families on the Navajo Nation. Access to safe water is at the centre of Kohler’s work to preserve the planet and support the well-being of individuals and communities around the world. Reliable access to water is not only crucial for life, but for enriched lives and the pursuit of education and art.
What are the latest tile trends that are worthy of note for interior designers? Ben Bryden, Sales and Marketing Director at RAK Ceramics UK, takes a look.
Practical, versatile and stylish flooring solutions don’t get much better than porcelain tiles. Strong and durable, this is a material that is suited to all areas, commercially and domestically.
Lava Concrete is a versatile collection that suits any setting, either with a contemporary or minimalist mood, and is suitable for residential projects through to the contract market. Lava Concrete can be chosen in five colours – Dark Grey, Light Grey, Beige, White and Mix Grey – and is available in a range of sizes to suit the application.
The manufacturing process of porcelain, which uses a finer and denser clay combined with high temperature and high pressure, results in a material that is far stronger than other types of ceramic, which is what makes this a material that is highly suited for flooring. Bathrooms benefit in particular from the properties of porcelain, which because of its density is extremely resistant to humidity and water.
The Fashion Stone collection makes a powerful statement with its sheer simplicity. Packed full of sass and contemporary style, this is the ideal tile choice for creating a minimalist look and feel.
Another major reason for the popularity of porcelain is the sheer versatility of the material. Colour and style choice is almost endless and finishes are also variable, giving designers a huge amount of creative freedom and enabling the material to be chosen for almost any application. Tiles can be printed or embossed in numerous ways and solid floor tiles can be mixed-and-matched in patterns and colours in any number of ways. They can be chosen to match or contrast with wall tiling and splashbacks for a cohesive look and can be chosen to replicate the look of many hardwoods and natural stones for the ultimate luxe look.
Solid, durable and extremely versatile, RAK Ceramics Curton are stone-look porcelain tiles that make a highly attractive visual impact.
Tiles with a subtle or a bold marble-effect pattern work well when teamed with materials such as wood, bringing nature indoors and creating a calming, timeless and high-end look that works well across all areas, from public to more private. Porcelain also offers a wonderful opportunity to introduce pops of colour to the setting, with vibrant colourways offering a brilliant way to catch the eye and turn a specific area into a focal point.
RAK Ceramics Circle Wood is a wood effect tile that brings nature indoors in the most practical of ways, ideal for high traffic areas, such as the kitchen.
Installation of the tiles themselves is also straightforward, with mega slabs from RAK Ceramics minimising grout lines and creating a luxe look.
About RAK Ceramics
RAK Ceramics is one of the largest ceramics’ brands in the world. Specialising in ceramic and grès porcelain wall and floor tiles, tableware, sanitaryware and faucets. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, RAK Ceramics serves clients in more than 150 countries through its network of operational hubs in Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia, North and South America and Australia.
This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a minimal shower tray design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Acquabella.
Practice: Acquabella
Project: Flow Zero
Flow Zero is the new shower tray by Acquabella. It has been designed to fully merge with the water. The shower tray is silhouetted by soft lines that direct the water towards an almost homogeneous grid that can easily accommodate the significant volume of water that flows over its surface.
A design perfectly in line with the softness of its Zero texture, a microtextured finish that fits perfectly with the Flow Zero model. The shower tray immerses us in a universe of calm and relaxation through the use of minimalism in its purest form, applied to the bathroom.
The SBID International Design Awards programme serves to recognise, reward and celebrate design excellence across a broad range of categories spanning Interior Design, Product Design and Fit-Out. Click here to find out more.
Turning the finishing touch into a focal point of the bathroom, RAK-Sorrento from RAK Ceramics is a brassware collection that offers a solution for every installation. Available in four finishes to meet every design requirement, this latest brassware range offers the opportunity to bring individual flair into the bathroom.
RAK-Sorrento has a timeless elegance, with a long body and spout combined with single lever control for a modern twist. As well as Polished Chrome, the brassware can also be chosen in on-trend Brushed Gold, Brushed Nickel or Matt Black.
The RAK-Sorrento basin mixers are available in three sizes – standard, medium and tall – enabling the brassware to be combined effortlessly with any washbasin, with a wall-mounted basin mixer also included in the range. For the bath, RAK-Sorrento offers an abundance of choice, including deck-mounted, exposed and freestanding options.
The sleek styling of RAK-Sorrento is carried through to the shower, with a choice of thermostatic valves that complete the streamlined look.
Giving any bathroom a stylish makeover, RAK-Sorrento delivers an excellent performance and is backed by a full manufacturer’s warranty.
RAK Ceramics help to create icons and build marvels; their products feature in some of the most iconic buildings in the world. They are known for their wide product range and ability to produce bespoke ranges for both small and large scale projects, enabling the clients to bring their ideas to life.
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RAK Ceramics, one of the leading ceramics’ brands in the world, unveiled its latest tiles and sanitaryware collections at Cersaie, one of the largest and most important international ceramics exhibitions which takes place annually in Bologna, Italy.
RAK Ceramics continues to provide its customers with ‘Room for Imagination’ and presented a complete collection of innovative new tiles, sanitaryware and complementary bathroom furniture and accessories. Displayed on one single stand RAK Ceramics continues to establish itself as the world leading ceramics lifestyle solutions provider.
Through-body veining is a RAK Ceramics innovation that enables natural marble veins to pass through the entire thickness of an unglazed porcelain slab with breath-taking results.
Thanks to innovative printing technology, pattern repetition is kept to a minimum and the delicate lines throughout the slab surface appear random and natural. From floors to wall surfaces and kitchen worktops, the effect is particularly dramatic when the product is used over large areas, with RAK-Preziosi being just one example.
Inspired by the elegance of marble, RAK-Preziosi has a smooth to the touch finish and a distinctive patterning that make this porcelain surface a stand-out backdrop feature wherever it is used. The epitome of luxury and sophistication, this maximus marble collection is also available in the trend-setting open book effect in a huge range of sizes, thicknesses and design solutions and can be chosen in several colours, including Green, Ocean, Pearl, Rio and Rock.
Among the many RAK Ceramics bathroom sanitaryware solutions to be shown at Cersaie, a highlight will be RAK-Valet. Designed by Patrick Norguet, the collection brings together the creative flair of the French designer and the manufacturing quality of RAK Ceramics.
The RAK-Valet collection, available in matt and glossy finishes, features thin-profiled washbasins, a generously sized, luxurious bathtub and sanitaryware with elongated lines. The collection is completed with details such as metal legs and towel rails or the functional and highly elegant little ceramic shelf, yet another design triumph by Norguet.
RAK-Valet also co-ordinates perfectly with some of the most successful furniture ranges by RAK Ceramics, such as the newly released RAK-Joy Uno cabinets and mirrors.
Abdallah Massaad, Group CEO, RAK Ceramics commented:
“We are proud to present our new collections at Cersaie 2021, especially at such an extraordinary time. Cersaie is an essential event on our marketing calendar and one of great strategic importance for RAK Ceramics. In recent months we have put all efforts into strengthening our positioning as a lifestyle solution provider by developing new collections for bathroom floors, surfaces, large-format tiles, sanitaryware and accessories, all of which are perfectly coordinated.”
RAK Ceramics is one of the largest ceramics’ brands in the world. Specialising in ceramic and grès porcelain wall and floor tiles, tableware, sanitaryware and faucets, the company has the capacity to produce 123 million square metres of tiles, 5 million pieces of sanitaryware, 24 million pieces of porcelain tableware and 1 million pieces of faucets per year at its 22 state-of-the-art plants across the United Arab Emirates, India and Bangladesh. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, RAK Ceramics serves clients in more than 150 countries through its network of operational hubs in Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia, North and South America and Australia.
With the size of the average UK bathroom measuring around 4.4m2, the latest designer collection from RAK Ceramics solves the problem of creating luxury results in compact spaces. In fact, RAK-Petit is designed specifically with small bathrooms in mind with a transversal collection of washbasins designed for architects and interior designers who address the spatially-challenged environments.
Created in collaboration with award-winning Italian designer Maurizio Scutellà, RAK-Petit is a collection of small washbasins for compact spaces, from cloakrooms and en-suites to small family bathrooms. With minimal shapes and modest dimensions, RAK-Petit washbasins are perfect for small but special bathroom spaces that are also big on style.
The collection includes deep-based washbasins that can be installed alone or combined with RAK-Joy vanity units in the domestic bathrooms, as well as freestanding washbasins that are statement pieces in their own right.
Featuring circular and square shapes, the freestanding ceramic RAK-Petit washbasins in striking Alpine White measure an elegant 360mm wide x 900mm tall. RAK-Petit wall-hung washbasins are equally as stylish, again with round or square basin shapes combined with a ceramic ledge, providing an easy to wipe clean surface for soaps and toothbrushes. Measurements for the wall-hung basins are 765mm x 360mm.
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