Premium bathroom retailer, C.P. Hart, works with architects, interior designers, and developers on a diverse range of residential and commercial projects, including new builds with distinctly modern aesthetics and high-end hotels inspired by classic British style.
C.P. Hart recently designed and supplied the luxury bathroom of Victoria Rise, an early Victorian property located in South London. Discover the inspiration, design, and featured products below.
The primary bathroom of Victoria Rise was once a small space comprising of a bath, with no shower, and a WC tucked tightly into the corner. C.P. Hart maximised the area by moving the entrance door, allowing the layout to be reimagined while creating room for a large walk-in shower. The new shower, enclosed with a Drench crittall-style matt black frame, features a Gessi shower system from the Tondo 300 range – a customisable private wellness collection that offers a spa-like experience.
“The client brought us an image of an eye-catching black and white hexagonal tile,” the C.P. Hart design team recall. “It sparked the idea for a bold monochrome scheme, which would also make the most of the original black cast iron fireplace.”
C.P. Hart’s exclusive Elter freestanding bath is complemented with a chrome bath and shower mixer from Italian maker, Gessi, coordinating with the basin mixers from the brand’s Eleganza collection. The C.P. Hart team designed the made-to-order double vanity basin unit to conceal pipework and incorporate the client’s desire for a marble top.
C.P. Hart transformed the limited space into a light and open bathroom that promotes wellness and relaxation, with a design that’s bold yet elegant, with a modern, linear style. “I wanted the client to be able to lie back and look out at the garden and sky,” the team explain, placing the freestanding bath adjacent to the statement floor to ceiling windows.
Discover more of C.P. Hart’s Recent Projects.
About C.P. Hart
Leading bathroom retailer C.P. Hart has an outstanding reputation for the best in design and innovation, with products sourced from designers and manufacturers worldwide, many exclusive to C.P. Hart and unable to be purchased elsewhere. C.P. Hart has 16 showrooms across the UK, including its impressive flagship at London’s Waterloo.
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GRAFF’s founder and CEO, Ziggy Kulig, who is a highly skilled engineer, moved to the U.S. from Europe in the 1970s. With a passion for design innovation and an emphasis on high quality materials and precision, Ziggy had recognised the origin of the hand crafting and specialised artistic manufacturing and in 1990 he acquired the factory where GRAFF has been produced ever since. These values continue to underpin the GRAFF ART of Bath philosophy.
The factory is in Central Europe and it was founded in 1922. In 2002, GRAFF’s first design collection, Targa, debuted. Collections that followed, such as Luna, Ametis, Harley, and Vintage, along with the many architectural and design awards they have won represent GRAFF’s ability to continually raise the design bar.
We are honoured to work closely with extremely talented interior designers on a range of luxury projects around the world, from concept to finish. We organise samples necessary for client meetings, alternative finishes for the mood boards, finalising detailed specifications with a technical pack to serve further down the line towards project build and completion. We value our relationships with the interior designers, as well as their creativity, skill, and insights, our collaboration carries on from product customisation to creating bespoke bath spaces for clients in private residences, hotels, resorts, yachts, and private planes.
GRAFF is offering lunch and learn sessions for all interior design studios that are keen to find out about our products and the ways we can support them with their work. We encourage both existing and new practices to take this unique opportunity and reach out whenever our assistance is required.
Interior designers are drawn to GRAFF’s award-winning products, created by top designers in the industry. They include the renowned Swiss designer, Davide Oppizzi, who created the Ametis Collection, while the celebrated Milan-based duo of Matteo Nespoli and Alberto Novara designed the Dressage Collection. GRAFF’s own innovative G+ Design Studio designed the MOD+ Collection.
Design excellence in the luxury bathroom brassware sector is key to adding value to the interior design industry. Through design excellence and innovation, GRAFF transforms the bath space beyond the quotidian, enhancing the physical, emotional, and aesthetic experience. We have 23 complete collections starting from the hand-crafted basin mixers, showers, and bath mixers to delicately designed accessories to match each range. At GRAFF every product is carefully produced from casting to hand polishing and elegant finishes.
We are a truly vertically integrated company, with 100% in-house production, assuring meticulous quality control and always conscious with regards to sustainability and green values.
At GRAFF, we design for timeless appeal, and for harmony with a broad range of interior and architectural styles. Our collections represent 3 design trends: contemporary, traditional as well as transitional. Interior designers can enhance their projects with our 20 finishes such as bronze, brass, 24K gold, architectural black, satin nickel, etc. Our new Vignola Collection, for instance, gives interior designers options for different combinations of handles, including a choice of three different Tuscan marble handle inserts. Our shower systems offer state-of-the-art technology, such as chromotherapy, hydrotherapy, and music therapy, adding a spa-like dimension to the bath space.
The trends we’re seeing focus on wellness, luxury, sustainability, and personalisation/customization. For instance, luxury multi-function showerheads geared to wellness are popular, such as those we offer with a variety of spray patterns and massage intensities. Technology drives current trends in exciting ways that make the bathing experience more spa-like.
Our digital controls for showers enhance the sense of ease and luxury, and LED lights conveniently indicate water temperature changes by changing colours. Our thermostatic shower systems control the water temperature, for the ultimate in comfort. The advanced technology of our Aqua-Sense and Ametis shower systems allows consumers to luxuriously immerse themselves in chromotherapy and sound.
Personalisation is one of the biggest aesthetic trends, and our collections offer boundless choices to meet that demand. Our designs complement and elevate bath spaces whether in historic mansions, seaside villas, country homes, or contemporary penthouses.
While the preference for wall mounted basin mixers continues, our collections offer the deck mounted versions as well, especially in the more classical styles such as Camden or Topaz Collections.
Sustainability is another important aspect and one on which GRAFF has long been ahead. GRAFF products have automatically included a water-saving device since 2012. We are ISO 14001 certified, meaning our products are designed to preserve energy and resources and lessen the impact on the environment. In our manufacturing, we have implemented zero-waste policies and adhere to strict international conservation, health, and safety standards. We also work with partners committed to such environmental and ethical practices, creating sustainable luxury bathroom products.
Questions answered by Delia Lakwera, UK Project Specifications Manager, GRAFF.
Considering the fact that carbon emissions from buildings and construction constitute almost 40 percent of global carbon emissions, knowledge of a building’s environmental impact is becoming key to enable the construction industry to work towards the necessary green transformation. Accordingly, a number of states have already established national lifecycle carbon limits for new or public buildings. Some states require carbon reporting as a minimum standard, while others have generally enacted more stringent requirements for new construction projects.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are considered by the European Commission as a suitable means of evaluating the sustainability of a building since the materials and products used in it significantly determine a building’s impact on the environment. In order to provide its customers with transparency regarding the ecological footprint of its products, the sanitary brand GROHE will release EPDs for 18 product groups that cover more than 600 single products by the end of October. The first batch, published at the end of July 2022, includes basin and kitchen mixers, thermostats, and shower rail sets. A second wave will follow by the end of October 2022 and will comprise special fittings, hand showers, installation systems and flush plates.
“With the launch of EPDs for a wide range of our portfolio, we offer our customers easy orientation and transparent comparison options with regard to the life cycle assessment of our products. On this basis, they can make informed statements about the environmental impact of buildings, which is often a cornerstone for sustainability certifications such as DGNB, LEED or BREEAM, or even a prerequisite for new building permits in many European cities. With increasing pressure on the construction industry to make buildings ever more sustainable, information of this kind will be a selection criterion for products in the future, on a level with price, design or quality,” says Jonas Brennwald, Leader, LIXIL EMENA.
An EPD is a comprehensive, independently verified, and registered product pass. It reports transparent and comparable data on the environmental impact of a product’s life cycle (Life Cycle Assessment). The life cycle is considered from the extraction of raw materials through to production then the use phase to disposal, including the impact of the individual transport routes. Tomas Kvillström, Leader, Commercial Regulation, LIXIL EMENA underlines how important it is to analyze a product’s entire life cycle: “We also looked at the usage phase, which has sometimes been neglected by the industry in the past. The long use phase of our products is the main driver for water and energy consumption and therefore a crucial piece of information for building management companies and hotel operators in particular. However, this knowledge is not only elementary for our customers, but also a good benchmark for us to further increase the sustainability of our value chain and products.”
Environmental Declarations are based on the international standard ISO 14025, and with regard to the construction industry EPDs are particularly based on EN 15804 for construction products, services and processes.
Today, the focus for sustainable product requirements is primarily on Global Warming Potential (GWP). Through the collection and validation of EPD-relevant data, GROHE is striving to develop increasingly low-emission product strategies in the long term while continuously improving its own carbon footprint. Potential for improvement could be identified, for example, in aspects such as sourcing materials closer to the plant or strengthening GROHE’s approach to green transportation. Since 2020 all eight LIXIL fittings plants, including the plants in Hemer, Lahr, Porta Westfalica (all Germany), Albergaria (Portugal) and Klaeng (Thailand), along with Jiangmen
(China), Danang (Vietnam) and Monterrey (Mexico), where GROHE products are also manufactured, as well as the German logistics centres, are CO2-neutral. In 2021, the European outbound logistics became CO2-neutral. All fittings plants and German distribution centers have switched to green energy. The collected EPD data shows CO2 peaks and can therefore support the goal of further avoiding and reducing emissions, and also in turn minimize the share of compensation to be paid. As a brand in the LIXIL portfolio, which is a Japanese manufacturer of pioneering water and housing products, GROHE’s efforts contribute to the corporation’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. “To preserve our planet, we need to change the way we create our built environment. We welcome EPD as the industry’s ‘new normal’ to foster the transformation towards low environmental impact and low energy consumption projects. They are the prerequisite for sustainable, future-ready building concepts,” says Jonas Brennwald.
Cover image: GROHE Eurosmart Kitchen – Cradle-to-Cradle Certified Gold Level
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.
This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a modern and contrasting kitchen design by 2022 SBID Awards Finalist, Extreme Design.
The monolith kitchen sits within a newly built private residence on the outskirts of London. Our clients purchased the original property in 2010 with a bold vision to replace the existing structure with a new unique and ambitious dwelling.
After being introduced to the project in 2017, Extreme were commissioned to create a kitchen design that not only compliments the architectural cues of the property but also reflects the client’s vision that was to run throughout every detail of the interior.
The angular shapes of volcanic rock formations and contrast of glowing lava flowing through fractures within the earth’s surface had formed the basis of the client’s bold design narrative. Inspired by geographical features, they wanted the kitchen design to not only reflect this distinctive concept but also be a welcoming and warm environment for the family.
SBID Awards Category: KBB Design
Practice: Extreme Design
Project: Monolith
Location: London, United Kingdom
For this client, it was clear that their love of art would be present in every detail of their newly built home. Drawing influence on architectural cues of the property, such as poured concrete, monolithic columns and organically shaped metal, the client wanted this unique kitchen to stand as a piece of art in its own right, whilst also becoming a pleasant environment for the family to enjoy every day.
Extreme’s unique approach to design gave us the freedom to design every element of the client’s kitchen, creating an environment with its own identity that works harmoniously with the rest of the home. The angular shapes of volcanic rock formations and contrast of glowing lava flowing through fractures within the earth’s surface had formed the basis of the client’s bold design narrative. Inspired by geographical features, they wanted the kitchen design to not only reflect this distinctive concept but also be a welcoming and warm environment for the family.
Our ultimate challenge was to bring the angular stone island and floating breakfast bar detail to life. Starting with a conceptual sketch the island as designed to feature angled stone sides and back panel which also had to be calculated and engineered to work as a support to the cantilevered breakfast bar.
Our favourite aspect of the project was working with such a bold design brief that allowed us full creative license to create an entirely original design. Drawing upon the properties architectural cues and introducing geographical elements into the project allowed us to elevate the design and create a living space which not only fulfilled the clients’ requirements of a warm and welcoming environment, but also showcased specialist skills in the stone angular features and array of beautiful materials and finishes.
The SBID awards represent outstanding achievements and celebrates design creativity and excellence worldwide. The awards are a great opportunity to bring recognition to those within the design industry. At Extreme, it is our vision to make an impact on design in this country and the awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase our work.
Questions answered by Jade Jones, Design Manager, Extreme Design.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s design!
If you missed the last instalment of Project of the Week, featuring a bright and colourful retail design by Seen Displays, click here to read it.
From the unprecedented collaboration of Patrick Norguet with RAK Ceramics comes a stunning bathroom project: RAK-Valet. It is the embodiment of a unique talent for understanding a need and creating a functional, long-lasting solution that fits in perfectly with the context. A cluster of visions, drawings, exclusive shapes and a fast-paced rhythm leading to unexpected solutions: this is what the French designer brings to each of his new creations.
RAK-Valet expresses the creative genius of Norguet together with the undivided attention devoted by RAK Ceramics to production quality and project completeness. A special project, attesting a new concept of living and a new way to use domestic space, which becomes free of constraints, permeable, osmotic, and innovative. Whether it be contemporary or traditional.
Norguet puts on stage a dialogue between light and shadow, between volumes and lines, between elements, forms and materials. A delicate balance that is never disrupted, as each element becomes functional to the user in this ongoing, harmonious exchange. Everything is in the service of the person who experiences the space, everything centres around the dialogue, bearing witness to something magical and unique.
The RAK-Valet collection is composed of functional elements – available in matt and glossy finishes – that serve as veritable valets and hand us the objects of our daily wellbeing via functional surfaces and stylistic solutions of great visual impact: decorative forms with slender profiles for the washbasins, top-notch stylistic research for the bathtubs, and elongated lines for the toilet bowls.
RAK-Valet is a project that comes to meet a need in interior design, leaving out any unnecessary shape or detail while the expression of the real is reduced to its pure, bare form.
RAK-Valet goes well with some of the most successful collections proposed by RAK Ceramics, such as their brand-new bathroom fittings and RAK-Joy Uno mirrors. It is rounded off by a rich choice of accessories, such as legs and towel holders made of metal, or the practical but extremely elegant ceramic surfaces also designed by Patrick Norguet.
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, 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.
Patrick Norguet is an essential figure on the international design scene. Drawing inspiration from everything that surrounds him, Norguet does not follow trends but seeks to give shape to products whose relevance and modernity would withstand the test of time.
A spacious kitchen for eating and entertaining was an essential for the Italian family who moved into this stunning home in Ascot. Their first decision was to relocate the existing small kitchen into a generous extension. Next stop was Charlie Smallbone, founder of Ledbury Studio, to request a show-stopping kitchen design imbued with his signature mix of materials. The result is a stunning kitchen that’s perfect for busy family life.
Charlie’s design centres around a generous island that’s hand-painted white and wrapped in a hard-wearing Calacatta Quartz waterfall worktop. The island is positioned below a roof lantern that floods the room with natural light throughout the day; a trio of decorative pendants provides effective task lighting at night.
“The couple wanted a sleek, contemporary aesthetic for their kitchen, so we chose grey-stained natural oak for the base cupboards,” explains Charlie. “Then, to create a contrast, the island cupboards are also oak but stained white. Staining timber in this way allows the natural beauty of the grain to shine through.” A large double larder and a breakfast cupboard flank the wall run. The doors are also grey-stained oak with exquisite brass inlay in a diamond-shaped design. “And one of my favourite elements is the liquid pewter finish with shagreen-like texture we created for the wall cupboards in between,” adds Charlie.
The adjacent wall is dedicated to the practicalities of the kitchen: a bank of ovens and a dedicated fridge and freezer separated by an impressive wine cooler. Huge slabs of porcelain in a Cararra marble finish were chosen for the floor as a final touch to this fabulous open-plan kitchen where practicality and glamour go hand in hand.
Ledbury Studio kitchens start from £50,000.
About Ledbury Studio
Ledbury Studio is a new and exciting design studio, showcasing Charlie Smallbone’s latest kitchen designs. Small and personal, Ledbury Studio has been established to explore and develop the interface between kitchens to cook and work in, and kitchens to live in. The company offers something very different in the world of kitchen design, something not found elsewhere. Combining exquisite materials and artisan craftsmanship, the new kitchen collections are striking and innovative and the culmination of Charlie Smallbone’s history at the forefront of cutting edge kitchen design.
SBID invite you to explore Kohler’s recently refurbished London showroom in Clerkenwell for an exclusive Breakfast Meeting with networking and showroom tour.
As a global leader in bathroom and kitchen design, join SBID members on Thursday 11 August to discover the latest products innovations in the KBB sector for your project specifications!
There are limited spaces available, so please secure your place as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Register to attend
Italian design is matchless, its inventiveness legendary. Signature and Tosca are the latest additions to premium bathroom retailer, C.P. Hart’s portfolio of exclusive furniture.
Sourced from inspirational makers in Tuscany, Italy and renowned for its high-quality and chic designs, Signature and Tosca are created for bathrooms of all sizes.
Carefully selected by C.P. Hart, Signature is a highly versatile range, making it the perfect storage solution for both large and small bathrooms. The collection of clean-lined and contemporary wall-hung vanity units and wall cabinets come in various shapes, allowing you to configure your bathroom furniture to optimise space.
The Signature range is crafted with exceptional attention to detail. Vanity drawers are internally painted in Anthracite Gray and come equipped with soft-close and push-pull mechanisms, accessible through recessed handles that are subtle yet practical, offering a comfortable and secure grip.
Cabinet tops and finishes are available in natural and timeless shades, including glossy and matt lacquers and wood finishes. A range of stunning marble stoneware tops with integrated basins or countertop ceramic basins are also included in the collection.
The Signature range offers a selection of sleek LED mirrors and towel holders to complement the furniture, all available to purchase from C.P. Hart.
The Tosca range, designed by Italian architectural designer Enzo Berti and hand-picked by C.P. Hart, breathes its classical heritage in a thoroughly contemporary way. The collection showcases a statement display of modular wall-hung and floor-standing vanity units, cabinets, and benches, available in various sizes allowing you to configure your optimal bathroom set-up.
The units feature simple, elegant lines enhanced by an Anthracite Grey frame and spacious, soft-close drawers. The front panels and tops can be crafted from wood or stone for a natural textured effect, or they can be lacquered or made of glass for a sophisticated feel. Please speak to a C.P. Hart sales consultant to discover the breadth of finishes available.
The Tosca range comes with washbasin options for maximum customisation, including blown glass countertop designs, integrated basins, undermounted or countertop solutions, and freestanding designs for an eye-catching and highly individual result.
“The use of age-old Tuscan materials, such as traditional terracotta, blown glass, and marble, introduces a timeless appeal to these collections, while the natural colour palette adds softness to minimalist design.” Yousef Mansuri, C.P. Hart director of design.
Signature and Tosca are currently displayed in C.P. Hart’s flagship Waterloo showroom.
Visit A C.P. Hart Showroom here.
Some spaces lend themselves particularly well to a generous injection of moody hues and this kitchen in Hackney, London, is one of them. Wall-to-wall bi-fold doors drench the space in natural light, allowing designer Charlie Smallbone of Ledbury Studio to dabble in a decadent mix of dark materials and bring a sense of drama to the bright space.
Typically for Ledbury Studio, metal punctuates the design, most notably on the front of the tall fridge-freezer, which is clad in aged verdigris copper panels. Subtler touches range from a strip of aged brass that runs along the top of the stained oak cupboard doors on the base run to a brass undermounted sink and aged brass handles on the island cupboards. Bringing the metallic elements together is a Stone Italiana Ambra worktop that combines the beauty of natural stone with the performance of hard-wearing quartz.
Continuity is essential when a kitchen is part of an open-plan space, and to strengthen this kitchen’s connection with the adjacent dining area, Charlie’s distinctive Choppy Water design is hand-carved onto the end panel of the island and on the cupboard in the dining area. As a side note, the cupboard comes complete with a built-in wine cooler, wine rack and a fluted-glass cupboard for glassware, making it a super-handy addition.
Storage is a crucial aspect of all Ledbury Studio kitchens. In this one, a large larder cupboard fitted with doors, racks, shelves and drawers offers a wealth of space for everyday cooking essentials. Open shelves above the sink serve a more decorative purpose, letting the homeowner showcase some of her favourite accessories to personalise the space.
From statement islands, home bars and luxury appliances, to ladder rails, integrated lighting and home-office spaces, the design team at The Myers Touch create kitchen-living spaces that exceed the wishlist dreams of their customers. They share the top kitchen design trends they’re seeing in client requests!
For many of their customers, a statement island can be created by its size, curves, colour or lighting features. For example but adding hand-painted gold and copper leaf veining can look stunning swept through white-gloss curved cabinets to add a touch of luxury to a contemporary space.
Helena Myers, Director has revealed that many of their customers are seeking out home bars and wine storage solutions as part of their dream kitchen entertaining space. With the increase in homeworking, some of these spaces even include a desk area so that they double up as a seamless office space!
Helena Myers says: “Many of our clients love to socialise and with the kitchen being the main hub of that entertaining space, we can design everything from home bars, integrated chilled bottle designs to statement wine fridges’.
‘When designing a kitchen in a property that has high ceilings, The Myers Touch design team often make use of the bonus space by adding a ladder rail that allows a homeowner to reach high-level display or storage cabinets.
A ladder rail attached to the top of your cabinetry, not only provides an interesting, eye-catching design feature to a space, but provides a fully functional design feature as it allows the homeowner to slide the ladder across the rail before climbing up the ladder to easily access kitchenware or special decorative items.
What’s more, when the ladder isn’t in use, their designers can create a space on either side of the rail system so that it can be neatly stored away in a niche space.
Clever displays and tones allow homeowners to change the atmosphere, tone and look of their kitchen throughout the day and into the night. From choosing integrated lighting in cabinetry or architectural-toned lighting that shines against a Corian solid surface back panel that showcases a distinctive geometric pattern, adds texture and interest.
Storage remains one of the most important aspects of all kitchen wish lists! From cutlery and utensil drawers, breakfast cupboards and wall-in pantry cupboards, customers at The Myers Touch love the range of functional storage features they can include.
Clever storage ideas range from spice cupboards hidden behind sliding splashbacks, walk-in utility and larders behind hidden pocket doors and pop-up TVs hidden in peninsulas to all help keep their kitchen designs clutter-free.
Image credits: Paul Craig.
About The Myers Touch
The Myers Touch specialises in the holistic design of luxury kitchens in the Winchester area, creating truly bespoke living spaces that offer far more than conventional cooking environments. Established in 2003 and based in Winchester, they enjoy long-standing partnerships with the iconic German manufacturer SieMatic and other leading brands including Gaggenau, Wolf, Sub-Zero, Miele and Siemens.
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