SBID Guide to London Design Festival 2022

Only a few days before London Design Festival returns on Saturday 17 September! For a whole week, LDF will celebrate and promote the city as a design capital on the global stage, offering an expansive programme of over 13 design disciplines, ranging from digital design and art, to landscape, interiors and materials.

Are you ready to dive into the world of design? Read the SBID's helpful guide to the festival to plan your diary, get inspired and engage with the design industry. Ensure you don't miss any important events and CPD sessions from SBID members!

Arper Showroom Events & Activities

Arper joins LDF in celebrating the city’s creativity in newly restyled London showroom to present its latest 2022 collections with a range of engaging events and creative activities across Clerkenwell Design Trail.

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Everything Flows: Zaha Hadid Design at Roca London Gallery

An immersive installation of pioneering designs showcases objects developed by Zaha Hadid Design over the past 15 years. The exhibition fills the sculptural spaces of the striking gallery designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in 2011.

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Kohler Breakfast Meeting: Showroom Talk & Tour

Kohler invites you to explore their recently refurbished London showroom in Clerkenwell, attend an exclusive Breakfast Meeting with networking, talk and tour, and discover the latest product innovations in the KBB sector.

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Parkside Breakfast Club & CPD Sessions

Parkside are hosting a Breakfast Club with live CPD event alongside fresh pastries and coffee as part of the Clerkenwell Design Trail! Unlock knowledge on tiling patterns, innovations in sustainable materials and how to specify bespoke surfaces.

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Networking Brunch at New House of Rohl Showroom

House of Rohl's networking brunch in partnership with SBID will bring together a collection of luxury kitchen and bathroom brands and provide an opportunity to meet peers and exchange ideas.

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Virtual Reality Sessions with VitrA

VitrA London showroom will run a series of free virtual reality CPD experience sessions, where they will turn bathroom designs into 4-D, enabling people to explore a fully immersive virtual bathroom space.

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RAK Ceramics Design Hub Tour

RAK Ceramics Design Hub is an interactive and immersive environment to inspire - explore the latest in bathroom designs, materials, finishes and colours with exclusive showroom tour, showcasing RAK Ceramics ranges, kitchen taps, and brassware.

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Karndean Exclusive Collection Preview

Drop by Karndean's Commercial Showroom to grab a mocktail or a bite to eat, meet the team and view an exclusive collection preview - take a first look at their new abstract flooring designs launching this autumn!

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Sustainable Talks, Installations and Events at EDGE

EDGE presents a variety of products, installations, CPDs, workshops, talks and events surrounding sustainable design, highlighting the industry's best in circular products and materials for living and working spaces.

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RGB Colour Experience & Evening Drinks with VitrA

VitrA is hosting an immersive colour experience using artwork by Carnovsky, which experiments with the interaction between colour in print and light form.

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Bolon Showroom Exhibition & Talks on Sustainability

Bolon is showcasing their latest products, celebrating the launch of new colour palettes for their bestselling collections, and holding a variety of talks on sustainability during the London Design Festival week. 

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Launch Party with Cosentino: Dekton Onirika & Kraftizen

The art of high-tech returns as Cosentino celebrates breathtaking new collections at the Cosentino City Showroom. Presenting award-winning carbon neutral materials with 'DJ Nadia Noudle' and tapas.

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Breakfast & CPD with Bolon: The Circular Economy

Bolon is hosting a CPD session led by Bolon’s visionary Head of Sustainability Håkan Nordin to learn about how Bolon’s experience in sustainable design has informed their approach and understanding of the circular economy today.

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Be at the Cutting Edge – Design the Future Today

EDGE (Eco Design Green Environment) is celebrating their first anniversary with a short talks programme focusing on sustainability and regenerative thinking.

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Launched globally in January 2022, the Statement showering collection brings a range of unique shapes and an array of sizes to the shower, breathing new life into well-loved standards and marrying the latest in technology with enduring craftsmanship. Innovative sprays elevate the showering experience, and universal compatibility means the system works wherever in the world it is installed. Inspired by iconic furniture and home goods, and defined by soft, approachable designs, the collection carries an underlying familiarity while creating striking aesthetics within the space.

This is showering re-envisioned at the most basic level. An oblong showerhead results in more enveloping water coverage for the whole body, and seven immersive spray experiences offered within the collection include a Deep Massage spray composed of twisting jets that knead sore muscles and a Cloud spray that swathes the body in a warm mist. Other spray options include a Full Coverage Rain, a dense, wide Sweep, and Ribbon Massage that cascades in an angled stream. Additionally, the collection offers an Infinity spray – interlaced water streams create three experience zones in a single spray – the droplets closest to the nozzle rinse, while the middle zone massages, and the farthest stream provides coverage. Many components also make use of the game-changing KOHLER Katalyst technology, which enhances every droplet with air for a warm, luxurious cloak of water.

“Showering is so much more than just getting clean. It is a chance to feel rejuvenated, a moment to focus on self-care,” says Lun Cheak Tan, Kohler VP of Industrial Design. “A shower should provide a rich experience – through design-forward craftsmanship, meaningful functionality and uncompromised focus on the user.”

The global Statement Collection includes a showerhead, four styles of handshowers, four unique rainheads, and two bodysprays, all available in a range of sizes and shapes to best suit the décor and design environment.

The Anthem controls take their design cues from high-end home furnishings and have a minimalist, sophisticated, and warmly tactile vibe. Like so many familiar electronic products, the digital valve control’s touch-sensitive surface is intuitive and easy to use. Every aspect of the new Anthem valves and controls from Kohler have been thoughtfully designed to give users a truly immersive showering experience, tailored to their exact specifications and altered according to their needs. With two valve platforms to choose from – mechanical and digital – and meticulously engineered to fit global plumbing standards, these precision systems elevate the showering routine to a next level sensory event, further expanding Kohler’s industry-leading approach to digital showering.

The valves can control up to six outlets, allowing the user personalization over any combination of shower sprays, rainheads, showerheads, handshowers and body sprays. Each outlet can be independently adjusted to suit the user’s specific temperature and flow desires, such as a soft, warm spray from the overhead rainhead along with strong, hot massage from the hand shower. Users can mix and match to their heart’s content and then program up to 10 favourite presets to revisit anytime.

“A really great shower is based highly on personal preference and should be completely within the control of the user,” says Lun Cheak Tan, Kohler VP of Industrial Design. “We have developed the Anthem valves and controls to empower bathers with the ability to manipulate flow, temperature and sprays to achieve a personalized wellbeing experience.”

Because the digital Anthem controls are integrated with the KOHLER Konnect app, users have power over nearly every facet of their showering experience via their smart phone. They can also set default or max temperatures and monitor shower duration and water usage to maximize water conservation. Users can pair the controls up with voice assistants (pairings vary by region) to allow for voice operation, and there’s even a “warm-up mode” that purges cold water from the pipes and puts a hold on the hot water for up to two minutes until users are ready to get in the shower. Anthem digital control offers independent access to every spray and up to two temperature zones, making it easy to change settings with precision and choose individual levels of warmth for different areas of the body.

The Anthem mechanical controls have their own sophisticated look and feel. Buttons for each outlet pop open when pushed, converting into dials that allow users to set and adjust flow volume. Clear, commonly understood iconography takes any guesswork out of the process, paving the way to a personalized sensory experience that can be universally enjoyed.

To add to Statement & Anthem's overall ease of use and provide peace of mind to designers and specifiers, the components are designed to be universally compatible. The collection is designed – from thread size to flow rate – to work globally, no matter how different the local codes and standards may be.

Finishes for both products include polished chrome, brushed nickel, matte black, and brushed moderne brass (finish options may vary by region); all are aesthetically arresting and created to yield a natural interplay with other accessories and design elements.

The collections represent an evolution in showering, one that engages all the senses and elevates the everyday, transforming the daily routine of showering into a customized corporeal event with the power to instil a sense of well-being. The handsome forms are matched by exceptional function that results in an indulgent, customised showering experience.

If you’d like to feature your product news here, get in touch to find out more. 

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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.

If you’d like to feature your product news here, get in touch to find out more. 

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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.

If you’d like to feature your product news here, get in touch to find out more. 

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As consumer lifestyles and the significance of the bathroom sector evolves into stylish (and hygienic) wellness-driven sanctuaries in the home, discover how the innovative bathroom designer and manufacturer, Kohler collaborates with interior designers to enhance the product specification process for transforming bathroom environments with luxury and functionality in equal measure.

What are the origins Kohler?

Kohler is a now 4^th generation family business which was started in 1873 by John Michael Kohler. Today it is a global business operating across various sectors and headed by David Kohler, President and CEO. Kohler Co. designs and manufactures kitchen and bath products under renowned global brands like KOHLER and KALLISTA; engines and power systems; luxury cabinetry and ANN SACKS tile; and is the owner/operator of two, five-star hospitality and golf resort destinations in Kohler, Wisconsin, and St. Andrews, Scotland.

How do you work with interior designers?

We work with designers through collaboration as a partner to help them achieve project requirements within the brief. We do so in the first instance by introducing them to our bathroom ranges designed for UK and global project specifications. This is supported and underpinned by our London Clerkenwell showroom, the Kohler Experience Centre, where we invite A&D to learn about our brand, experience our products and participate in talks and events that support the design community.

What value does your sector add to the interior design industry?

The bathroom today, as most designers will agree, has become an increasing focal point of specification with a far greater demand on design and function while delivering upon the dimensions of wellbeing we all strive to achieve in today’s modern world. It is now considered by many that the bathroom is the most integral part of the home to specify. More bathrooms are being added to projects and no longer the clinical white box but a need to ensure the space provides an environment that is tactile, stylish, modern, and offers a seamless transition from one room to the next. Above all, it’s creating a space of wellness as well as function. As such, the bathroom sector has adapted to offer products that reflect the different materials and colours often reserved for products seen in living spaces while bringing luxury, functionality and technology to new levels of possibility.

How do your services/offering enhance an interior designer’s projects? 

As a manufacturing business, and in particular with respect to the bathroom specification sector, we manufacture products to simplify the specification process, so that wherever possible we can be a one-stop shop for bathroom specification for the designer. From basins, furniture, WCs, and taps, to shower enclosures, fittings and accessories we can help to make specifying a much more gracious experience.

What are the latest trends you’ve noticed in your client’s requests?

Metal colour finishes and the variety of choices available for tap and shower fittings have been hugely popular. We are seeing a resurgence in gold whilst the emergence of black and brass coloured finishes are now commonly requested across various levels of specifications, and not just at the very top end of specification. In light of the ongoing global situation with Covid, we are also seeing more demand for hygiene technology across specifications, whether it's intelligent toilets, touchless products or in the very material of the product itself.

Why did you become a sponsor for the SBID Awards? 

Kohler is a well-established brand within UK project specification, and we want to recognise the amazing work created by the UK design community which is driving global project design – many of whom we work with regularly on specification for various hospitality and residential projects. Kohler remains positioned as a global leader which continues to evolve and adapt to meet the needs and demands of both the specifier and consumer not just today, but also well into the future.

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