“What is typically individual?” and “What types of individual bathrooms are there?” – those were the questions asked at the Pop up my Bathroom trend forum at ISH 2017. Initiated by the German Sanitary Industry Association (Vereinigung Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e.V. [VDS]) on behalf of Messe Frankfurt, the trend platform explored the “Individual Bathroom” in presenting the current trends at the world’s leading trade fair for the combination of water and energy.
The Pop up my Bathroom trend form identified key markers that showed where things are heading. That’s because the bathroom will look completely different depending on which trend most influences the user and what their priorities are.
A bathroom that fits like a glove
The fact is the desire for originality and self-fulfillment is growing stronger all the time. When we talk about an individual bathroom today, we don’t mean extravagant fittings and furnishings or exceptionally original ideas, but rather a bathroom whose look and functions have been tailored entirely to its user and the architectural circumstances.
“The bathroom is increasingly becoming a space that people enjoy spending time in and can identify with,” says Jens J. Wischmann, Managing Director of the VDS, of the trend towards individualism and consumers’ growing appreciation of an attractively furnished bathroom.
The bathroom as a place to enjoy
It doesn’t matter whether the consumer prefers a bathroom with a seamless, homogeneous look or a stylish arrangement mixed with vintage elements: thanks to the wealth of variants and extremely complex product ranges on the market, almost any brand-name manufacturer’s collection contains a solution for any type of setting. Selecting products has become a question of taste, because many ranges permit customisation down to the smallest detail. In the shower, for instance, jets and outlets can be positioned individually; sandblasting technology allows personalised patterns to be “painted” on the shower, and emblems can be incorporated into mirrors, glass or tiles. The big lifestyle brands are already offering “colour on demand” for their bathtubs and vanities, and in some cases the customer can even design the outer shape of the tub himself. Nowadays even ceramic vanity tops can be custom-sized without putting a strain on either the consumer’s wallet or the manufacturer’s production processes.
Custom-sized bathroom furniture and plenty of colour for more individuality
For customers in search of made-to-measure solutions – perhaps for cabinets built into alcoves, room dividers, benches, or shelves that cover the entire wall – leading bathroom furniture manufacturers offer custom-sized components or even entire segments especially for individually adaptable furniture systems.
A particularly wide choice of colours is available for finishes, which can be selected in virtually any variation. In some cases they can even be replaced with something different if customers decide they don’t like their cabinet fronts after a few years. In line with general furnishing trends, varnishes, lacquers and coatings are available in everything from high gloss to ultra matte (fingerprint-proof, naturally), all the way to knotted grains for the wood designs. And nowadays tiles don’t just come in all kinds of wood effects, textures and used looks, but in various formats and motifs for laying all sorts of patterns too – from ship’s deck to herringbone to linear mosaic.
Cutting-edge technology in the bathroom for individual needs
But customising certain elements of the furnishings isn’t the only way for individualism to manifest itself in the bathroom. Personalisation can take place behind the scenes as well: in the bits and bytes that regulate the individual settings for fittings, lighting and sound systems.
Individualisation represents the complete reversal of a concept that, in the early days of modernism, was regarded as the ultimate in progress and prestige: standardisation. This presents manufacturers and designers of sophisticated bathroom products and bathrooms with various challenges. Run-of-the-mill goods and stereotyped thinking have to be replaced with intelligent products, customising systems and continuing training for staff so that they can tailor the advice they give to the individual customer. But new concepts are needed too: concepts that integrate our digital way of life, liberate the bathroom from its tightly laced corset and open it up to the possibilities of individual design. In the long-term, this will also result in shorter lifecycles for bathroom furnishings and equipment.
Visitors to ISH were able to gain an overview of the most important developments taking place in the bathroom right now. In addition, the trend forum also hosted an informative lecture program. Renowned speakers from industry and research presented interesting concepts on the theme of individualism and provided background information on this fascinating topic. Panel discussions with prominent representatives of the industry put the finishing touches to the wide-ranging forum.
The Pop up my Bathroom trend platform has been monitoring developments in bathroom design since 2009. Using a sometimes highly experimental approach, the Pop up my Bathroom installations, photo productions and blog posts examine the impact that social developments, current design trends and technological innovations are having on the world of the bathroom. Published every two years on the occasion of the leading international trade show for the sanitary industry, the ISH in Frankfurt, the study sums up the trends influencing the bathroom and is aimed at trade professionals and consumers alike.
For further information on ISH visit ish.messefrankfurt.com
