Designer Magazine - Dec/Jan 22/23

DESIGNER AWARDS 2022

RICHARD SEYMOUR AND DICK POWELL –DECADES OF MAKING THINGS BETTER

Therefore, we manufacture everything ourselves from scratch, something that is unique nowadays. Every single piece of wood is sawed, planed, sanded and glued by hand by our experienced craftsmen. During the journey from raw material to a finished surface individual items are meticulously checked during each of the 9 stages in production, to ensure you receive the very best. We cater for your every wish and have something to offer for every taste and purpose.

Contact Sales Manager Mark Williams on 07894698682 and visit us online at spekva.com

Designed by Steven Christopher Design, photographed by Sam Lock

ASH

ELM BAVARIAN BRASILICA BEECH

OAK IROKO

CHERRY MAHOGANY WALNUT WENGE

MORE THAN A SURFACE

Welcome to the December-January issue of Designer.

It’s always one of our favourite tasks; bringing together some of the highlights from the Designer Awards into this special issue. But this year is even more exciting as we celebrate 20 years of the event.

e awards presentation was the usual mix of networking, fun, and – most importantly –celebrating design excellence across the industry. And what a day we had at our new venue, Old Billingsgate! A live band, dancers, ne food –and wonderfully turned-out guests who truly embraced our 1920s theme to add even more glamour to what is always a very ne a air.

At the end of what was another tough year economically and politically, it felt right to really go to town for this milestone Designer Awards, because what the past two decades has shown is that this industry always responds, adapts, recovers and reinvents.

e tough times can be extremely challenging of course, but there is always good reason to remain optimistic. And that’s because the single biggest asset for every designer and manufacturer involved in the awards is creativity. All the while that ideas and innovation ow, you can be sure that solutions will be found –leading to the kind of inspiration and renewal that we always strive to capture in the pages of this magazine, on our website designerati and, of course, at the Designer Awards.

So, sincere congratulations to every single one of this year’s nalists and winners. And we hope that the projects and products on the following pages will inspire many more to submit their very best work for potential glory in 2023.

Martin Allen-Smith Editor, Designer

CONTENTS

8 SOURCE

Our monthly round-up of the people, products and events that matter from across the design sector

12 DESIGNER AWARDS 2022

Full coverage of our annual event, celebrating the very best in design excellence

14 KITCHEN DESIGN AWARDS

All the winners revealed in the Super Luxe, Over £40k and Under £40k kitchen categories

22 MARK WILKINSON AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Honouring the groundbreaking work of Seymourpowell founders Dick Powell and Richard Seymour

25 BATHROOM DESIGN AWARDS

A look at the winners and finalists from across the bathroom design categories

30 RESIDENTIAL

INTERIOR OF THE YEAR

The pick of this year’s home interior schemes

32 WORKPLACE INTERIOR OF THE YEAR Showcasing the evolution of UK workspaces

34 INTERNATIONAL DESIGN OF THE YEAR Design innovation from outside of the UK

36 SUSTAINABLE PROJECT OF THE YEAR Projects that are setting the bar high for future-proofing design

37 SERVICES TO THE INDUSTRY AWARD Recognising the unique and influential career of appliance pioneer Ernst-Uwe Hanneck

42 PRODUCT INNOVATION AWARDS

All the gold winners from this year’s crop of fresh manufacturing ideas

50 BRITISH DESIGN & MANUFACTURING AWARD Saluting the very best in home-grown design

52 NEW DESIGNER OF THE YEAR

Celebrating the brightest new design talent

53 HOTEL INTERIOR OF THE YEAR

Setting the highest standards of guest experience, our winner and finalists for hotel excellence

54 SHOWROOM OF THE YEAR Well-deserved acknowledgement for some of the very best trade and retail show spaces from around the country

58 DESIGN CLASSIC AWARD Bathroom brilliance in the form of a classic Laufen/Alessi collaboration

61 THE YEAR IN PRODUCTS

Some of our new product highlights from the past 12 months

66 EXIT Kohler teams with artist/designer Nada Debs for a transcendental experience

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MARTIN

CHANTELL KESTON DAVE WALLACE

On the cover: Richard Seymour and Dick Powell, founders of Seymourpowell, winners of the Mark Wilkinson Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2022 Designer Awards

Out of the Ordinary

The Red House, a contemporary family home in rural Dorset by David Kohn Architects, has been named RIBA House of the Year 2022.

The contemporary family house is situated in the rolling hills of rural Dorset. The owners fell in love with the idyllic location and stunning panoramic views when they first visited the site in 2011 and, 10 years later, moved into their dream family home.

The house takes inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement, reinterpreting the style in an intentionally provocative way. The house’s playful eccentricity, including oversized eaves, patterned red brickwork, and contrasting bold green details, jumps out, but the overall effect is underpinned by craftsmanship and attention to detail.

The open plan ground floor creates a light, airy atmosphere. Different ‘rooms’

are formed by walls moving in and out of alignment – offering only glimpses into the different areas, rather than a full view down the length of the house. This provides the practical and accessible ease of open plan living, alongside the cosiness of more enclosed spaces. The staircase is a central feature of the house – offering a sculptural design sweeping up to the first floor and dropping down through a projecting bay window.

The owners wanted a home that could adapt for future accessibility needs. The staircase has two handrails, there are rounded corners on built-in furniture, grabrails on the fronts of cupboards, no door handles to turn – and even a lift.

Sustainable credentials figure highly in the scheme. The house has thick walls and deep eaves, serving to protect the façade from the elements and

minimise overheating during summer months. The concrete has been left exposed to maximise the thermal stability of the interiors and the deep concrete foundations have been replaced by steel piles, reducing the embodied carbon in the groundworks. Biodiversity has been woven in, with the slate roof discretely providing a home for the local bat population. Further nesting sites have also been incorporated into the brickwork and eaves to encourage wildlife.

Architect David Kohn, said: “The Red House winning the RIBA House of the Year Award is a validation of the ambition and unerring support of our clients and the dedication of the whole project team. The jury have chosen to support architecture that is intimate, playful, colourful, and engages both with its context and history. I could not be more delighted.”

Chair of the RIBA House of the Year 2022 jury, architect Taro Tsuruta, said: “Ordinary yet quirky, extravagant although utilitarian, The Red House confronts our expectations of a house in a beautiful setting that never wants to settle into being one way or another. An aesthetic and sustainable building with future-proof functionality, it draws on architectural references from Morris to Stirling – with many surprises throughout which were applauded by all the jury members.

Internally, the enfilade is formed without doors from the entrance to the living, kitchen and dining area, allowing the space to magically flow. This house was certainly the most debated, which in itself deserves praise.”

Marble Marvel

New from CRL Stone is Larsen, a MDi surface inspired by the beauty of marble. Produced by Inalco, the surface features bold patterning and utilises digital technology to create a sharply defined finish with a 20mm thickness.

RIBA

CRL Stone / crlstone.co.uk

SHROUDED IN STYLE

Kitchen manufacturer Symphony has launched its Turin kitchen collection. Available in Dark Stone, Dark Walnut, Pebble and White, the range aims to offer a dramatic look in contemporary interiors or give neutral décor a modern twist.

Its doors have been designed to tap into the trend for bringing a natural finish into the home whilst also catering to the demand for neutral finishes in the kitchen. The four new styles are also available in the handleless Inline and Linear kitchen collections as part of the brand’s new ICON range.

Symphony / symphony-group.co.uk

With a Quooker in your showroom you can offer your customers the only tap in the world that dispenses true 100°C boiling, chilled and sparkling water. Well-known, extremely popular, and already sought after by your customers thanks to our extensive national marketing campaigns. Quooker offers high-quality, innovative kitchen taps that are already being used by millions of households throughout the world. As an official Quooker dealer, our in-house service team will take care of all after sales matters for you, and we can even arrange installation by a Quooker engineer. We also have a unique industry-leading virtual online platform that enables consumers to choose the right product for their kitchen without your involvement. This way, you can focus on what you are good at: selling beautiful kitchens. Contact us for more information on how to become a Quooker dealer.

Dress Code: Roaring 20’s

After Party ®Quooker Football Festival

USA vs ENG - 18:00 - 23:30

designerawardsuk.com

The most highly-regarded prizes for UK kitchen, bathroom, and interior designers were presented at the 20th anniversary Designer Awards which took place at a stunning 1920s-themed event at London’s Old Billingsgate, in association with headline sponsors Quooker.

Hundreds of the industry’s leading designers, manufacturers and other influential figures attended the ceremony, which was hosted by designerati podcast host and brand ambassador Melissa Porter.

All of the results from this year’s competition – covering the very best in design from across the design disciplines –feature in this month’s magazine, including the prestigious gold awards for the most innovative products in the market.

Further coverage of some of this year’s winners and finalists can be found online at designerati.co.uk and in Designer over the coming issues. Huge congratulations to all of this year’s finalists and winners.

Designer Awards 2022 / designerawards.com

Thanks to all of our category sponsors whose support makes the Designer Awards possible, especially to headline sponsor Quooker – who also supported our World Cup-themed ‘football festival’ afterparty – and to our Sustainability Partner, Used Kitchen Exchange.

The Personal Touch

Now more than ever, Poggenpohl has its focus squarely on meeting the individual desires of its customers. Marc Sporer, Head of Corporate Architecture for the German luxury kitchen brand, explains why individuality is everything…

For a company with a 130-year history, change is nothing new.

Adapting to new lifestyles has been a cornerstone for the brand, but today’s offering is perhaps as broad and as comprehensive as it has ever been.

Nature and its untamed beauty guide the design choices, along with the belief that uniqueness can only be created through variety and choice. The latter is something of a general leitmotif for the brand’s offering – with the aim of providing a wide portfolio, certainly curated, but leaving customers with a huge array of possibilities and inspiring them to try different options.

Another priority for the brand has been to keep its three design concepts – +MODO, +VENOVO, and +SEGMENTO – up-to-date. Each are classics in their own right, with their own highly distinctive look.

For Marc Sporer, Head of Corporate Architecture, key to ensuring Poggenpohl’s continued evolution is to listen: “It’s about understanding the customer, and appreciating the huge diversity out there. We want to give individual solutions based on our experience and on the customer’s desires.

“I think our collective understanding of the word ‘luxury’ has changed. It’s not the same as it was before. Today it is not about ‘showing off’. It is more to do with the values of individual people. For any one person this could be time, or family, perhaps health, it could be the environment – or it could be a combination of all of these. This changing perception of what luxury really means has opened up a whole

new set of priorities and ideas, and offers possibilities for a range of different design directions.”

Today’s customer is typically far more knowledgeable too. Sporer says: “Customers are not coming to us and saying ‘I have no idea about kitchens’. Instead, they have a clear vision of where they want to go, what they want to have, and how it should look. But they are also searching for inspiration, and this is most certainly what we can offer. We want to inspire people, and to present them with options that they might not have so far considered.”

This important dialogue has significantly reinforced the role of the showroom as places for communication and inspiration. Once clients enter a Poggenpohl brand space, they will be welcomed by staff who are all trained interior architects and designers. They aim to share the universe of Poggenpohl by helping them to discover the latest trends, future directions, and showing and explaining in detail product features as well as some of the more avantgarde concepts of interior design. The

focus is on capturing the very personal idea of living that the client may have in mind and which, through dialogue and attentive listening, becomes clear enough to develop into a tailored and highly individual design.

“In an ideal world, the designer would be able to spend one whole day in the kitchen of the client,” says Sporer. “But of course, it would be slightly awkward if you come down the stairs and there’s already someone sitting in your kitchen, watching you as you go through your daily routines.

“So, we work hard to understand what people are doing and so, in our showrooms, we find ourselves talking more about the experience journey and the atmosphere of the space; not just talking about a product, but understanding lifestyle, understanding room atmospheres, and holistic concepts. This is something we want to offer in order to provide something different, and it puts the customer at the very centre of all that we do.”

Poggenpohl / poggenpohl.com

DICK POWELL & RICHARD SEYMOUR: INSPIRING CHANGE

The Mark Wilkinson Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2022 Designer Awards went to a design duo that have brought design innovation to bear on our everyday lives for the past 40 years…

After Party ®Quooker Football Festival USA

ENG - 18:00 - 23:30 designerawardsuk.com

Richard Seymour addressed guests via video message

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The list of past winners of the Mark Wilkinson Lifetime Achievement Award – named after the legendary kitchen and furniture designer who died in 2017 – reads as a real who’s who of many of the giants of design, and includes names such as Robin Levien, Johnny Grey, Karim Rashid, Sieger Design, Marc Newson, Matteo Thun, Zaha Hadid, Arik Levy, and Phillippe Starck among others.

This year’s winners are Dick Powell and Richard Seymour, founders of design consultancy Seymourpowell. The dynamic industrial design duo have forged a reputation for innovative and forward-thinking creativity across a mind-bogglingly wide range of product categories.

The studio they formed together in 1984 counts some of the biggest manufacturing names among its clients. They have produced advanced interior concepts for car firm Renault for over a decade, the world’s first cordless kettle for Tefal, the iconic Baby G watch for Casio, and a bagless vacuum cleaner for Rowenta. They have also undertaken major projects for the likes of BMW, Nokia, Panasonic, Ideal Standard, Yamaha, Unilever and Ford, among many others.

Other highlights include concept design work for the Virgin Galactic spacecraft as well as a concept design for Samsung Construction and Trading called Aircruise – a giant, vertical airship powered by natural energy and designed to carry travellers in style and luxury.

But beyond the work of developing new ideas and bringing innovative products to life, both men have also been actively involved in the promotion of design and the wider profession, through their enthusiastic involvement in business groups, design journalism and broadcasting.

On the latter point, back in 2000, they successfully brought design ideas to a much wider audience with television series for Channel 4 in association with the Design Council, called Better By Design. It focused on how a fresh take on everyday items such as kitchen bins, shopping trolleys and razors could bring tangible advantages to our day-to-day lives.

Always very much embracing cutting-edge research to develop its design thinking, today the studio that bears their name harnesses the very latest technology to help clients achieve their product design and branding potential in the brave new world – indeed the metaverse – of the future.

Martin Allen-Smith, Editor of Designer magazine, said: “Powell and Seymour have set an industrial design benchmark that continues to inspire designers of all disciplines. Their work is particularly important because it is so grounded in our everyday lives. They simply enjoy making things better for people and the world around them and have demonstrated a startling flair for doing exactly that throughout 40 years of creative excellence.”

Seymourpowell / seymourpowell.com

Left: Dick Powell speaking at the 2022 Designer Awards

Right:

Far right: Dick Powell receives the Mark Wilkinson Award for Lifetime Achievement from Designer Editor Martin Allen-Smith

DESIGNER

The ZED House has been developed by Barratt Homes to showcase what could be achievable for the mainstream, volume housebuilder and aims to offer an example of how the future of housebuilding may look in 10-20 years.

Barratt challenged its supply chain partners – including Symphony Group – to bring-in the most cutting-edge products into the house to reduce its embodied carbon. The kitchen specified for this project is the Urban range in Grey Walnut. The door and drawer fronts on this range are made using 100% recycled chipboard whilst the handles contain renewable coconut fibre. In addition, the kitchen cabinets are made from over 50% recycled board and the cutlery trays and drawer storage are all Hemp- and Kenaf-based.

The ZED House is constructed using closed panel timber framed with highly insulated cladding and includes essential sustainable technology such as EV charging points, PV solar panels and battery storage. Inside, the house features electronic taps that can reduce water usage by 80%, and a smart electricity tariff which automatically shifts energy usage to access the cheapest rates.

The house is located on the main campus at the University of Salford and will contain a dedicated knowledge hub built into the garage to display products, technologies and results of the house so far.

Services to the Industry Award

The Services to the Industry honour is reserved for a nondesigner whose work in the sector extends way beyond the norm in terms of the wider impact that their work has had on the industry. Presenting the award to Ernst-Uwe Hanneck, Grahame Morrison, Founding Editor of Designer magazine, said: “He is a true pioneer in the sense that he had no blueprint to follow but brought ethics and business acumen to a market that was more like the wild west when he started, than the calm and professional kitchen specialist sector we know today.

“He was the first to acknowledge that selling built-in appliances called for a different skill set to selling freestanding products, and that this skill set could be found within dedicated kitchen showrooms.

“Uwe Hanneck established the Neff brand in 1972 and built it to be the built-in market leader with a laser-like focus and unwavering commitment to independent kitchen retailers. The products he introduced with Neff have been a major influence of the design style of fitted kitchens at all price levels. And he rewrote the rule book on aftersales service for built-in appliances with engineers dedicated to Neff and other BSH brands exclusively.”

Designer’s current Editor, Martin Allen-Smith, added: “Uwe Hanneck’s impact as CEO of the BSH Group as well as his roles with AMDEA and, more recently, the KBSA, have all seen him make a huge, massively important and lasting difference for kitchen specialists. He is widely acknowledged as a towering figure within the industry, and there can be no more deserving recipient of this award than Mr Hanneck.”

Grahame Morrison (left), Founding Editor of Designer, and Martin Allen-Smith (right), Editor of Designer, present Ernst-Uwe Hanneck with the Services to the Industry Award at the 2022 Designer Awards

Ernst-Uwe Hanneck Grahame Morrison

Designer Editor Martin Allen-Smith

Designer Awards Event Director Clara Perry

Stephen Johnson, UK Managing Director at headline sponsor Quooker

Awards host and brand ambassador Melissa Porter

Helen Lord, Founder/ Director of awards sustainability partner Used Kitchen Exchange

Dick Powell, winner of the Mark Wilkinson Awards for Lifetime Achievement along with Seymourpowell Co-founder Richard Seymour

Kitchen designer Johnny Grey

Ernst-Uwe Hanneck, winner of the 2022 Services to the Industry Award

Eye on the Prize

Continuing a long-standing

material for this year’s Designer Awards trophies

Trophies are a symbol of the dedication and passion of a successful team. They are a treasured possession destined to be proudly displayed in the office for years to come. As such, they must be recognisable and aesthetic pieces that can stand the test of time. Crafted out of Corian® Solid Surface, the Designer Awards trophies certainly fit the brief.

CDUK introduced Corian® Solid Surface to the UK and Ireland market, a composite material made from minerals, acrylic polymer and natural pigments, with unique properties that make it durable and tough. Corian® Solid Surface can be used for countless, striking applications across various spaces, from residential to commercial.

The versatility of the material allows designers and makers to explore light and form as never before. Its acrylic content makes it possible for the material to be thermoformed into beautiful curves and shapes. Thermoformed Corian® can produce bespoke statement pieces, 2D and 3D shapes that add a dramatic element to space, from a statement reception desk to a curved, seamless kitchen island. The translucency of certain colours of Corian® also allows designers the opportunity to experiment with luminosity and illuminate surfaces using backlighting techniques.

Hygiene sits alongside style as a feature, and thanks to the nonporous, stain-resistant nature of Corian®, its application will stand the test of time. Hygiene is conducive to supporting people’s well-being and health. Corian® Solid Surface offers designers and architects the opportunity to deliver hygienic solutions without sacrificing beauty.

Circular principles are adopted to maximise the product’s longevity. When Corian® Solid Surface reaches its expected lifespan, it can be restored and returned to its original glory simply by sanding and polishing its surface. At the end of its lifecycle, the material can be repurposed and reinstalled elsewhere or reworked into new products. A collection of 15 Corian® colours are produced with pre-consumer recycled content (up to 20%), including the new Artista collection.

The Corian® Solid Surface collection includes 98 colours, from natural and neutral tones to bolder statement patterns, to suit any aesthetic and be a viable solution for any project. This year’s Designer Award trophies celebrate the glamorous 1920s style using Corian® Cosmos Prima, a heavily pigmented and veined shade of black, paired with the golden tones of Corian® Dune Prima.

CDUK is a leading supplier of surface materials and complementary products to the specification market in the UK and Ireland. A long-established business with over 40 years of experience, it continues to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of its customers. Last year, CDUK added PaperStone® to the expanding surfaces portfolio, and this year launched M|R Walls and an exclusive range of matte black sinks by The 1810 Company.

A team of industry experts provides services beyond sourcing highquality, on-trend materials and products, including RIBA-accredited CPD seminars and bespoke training course for designers and fabricators. It also provides an exceptional sample service and extensive technical advice throughout all phases of a project to unlock the portfolio's full potential and deliver award winning surface design solutions.

For more information on products and services, please contact the CDUK team.

Email: info@cdukltd.co.uk Tel: 0113 201 2245 Website: www.cdukltd.co.uk

collaboration, the

has been donated by surface material supplier CDUK to celebrate the achievements within the design industry and recognise the talent and dedication of the individuals that shape it

Designer Award Trophies

Corian® Limestone Prima Corian® Artista Dust

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Editor’s Choice Award

This special award is selected by the editor of Designer magazine as a design worthy of special recognition for its innovation and creative vision. This year’s winner is OmniChef by Smeg, an oven that combines traditional, microwave and steam cooking – or a combination of each in separate stages of the cooking process – to enable the best results in 70% less time.

It is a feature-packed and highly innovative design that brings multiple cooking techniques together in one neat package. Martin Allen-Smith, Editor of Designer, said: “In what is a crowded and highly innovative product category, this oven stands out for the way in which it combines its many functions, eliminating the guesswork and making it easy on the user.”

Awards host Melissa Porter presents the Editor’s Choice Award to Jamie Wright, National Account Manager, and Federica Torelli, Head of Products at Smeg

Explore handles for kitchens, bathrooms and furniture.

Villa by Furnipart. A handle inspired by the classical architecture of Greece. Straight lines, symmetrical; harmonious in its construction.

View the full range of handles at www.ldlonline.co.uk

Sponsored by

Design Classic Award

The Design Classic Award was created to recognise an influential product that has gone beyond its initial impact to cement a place in the hearts and minds of designers and specifiers for the longer term.

The 2022 winner is a bathroom collection which was originally launched during Milan Design Week in 2002.

The ILBAGNOALESSI range was the result of a collaboration between the Alessi Italian design factory and bathroom manufacturer Laufen. Based on the knowledge and expertise in their respective fields, the aim was to reinvent the traditional bathroom archetype, and create a new approach to the design of the bathroom space.

It’s fair to say, it really achieved all that. Created by Stefano Giovannoni, the range helped to open minds to a new aesthetic, based around fluid, natural forms at a time when that was not so typical – and managing to hit that sweet spot that sits somewhere between subtlety and distinctiveness.

Presenting the award to David Bromell, Head of Marketing at Roca UK & Ireland, Martin Allen-Smith, Editor of Designer magazine, said: “This range played a big part in introducing a new, softer aesthetic – one that has gone on to define the way we think about the bathroom space today. It embraced natural forms to create something that really resonates with our human instincts, and it’s wonderful that the brand is rebooting the essence of this collection with a rebirth of this bathroom design classic for 2023.”

Laufen / laufen.com

BEST KITCHEN GADGET

“

Our winner quickly became a favourite addition to our white goods lab during testing, offering easy installation and quick access to filtered and boiling water. The 4N1 Touch was also praised for its versatility, with the awards team noting,

Boiling water? It’s ready for you. Filtered water? Sure, just tap the button on the front. A stylish model, available in multiple colours and tap designs, this is a great add-on to any kitchen.

‘it’s the tap that does everything you could want’.

The Year in Products

Ideal Standard’s Solos concept – designed by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba – was previewed at Salone del Mobile 2022.

Ideal Standard / idealstandard.co.uk

Above: Havwoods Chevron boards from the Venture Plank collection were used throughout this London property, leaving an open and decorative look and feel in a project by ABL3 Architects for developer Sebastian Building Solutions.

Traditional details and the warm undertones of the wood create a softness which pulls the scheme together into a cohesive space. Using a variation of blue tones throughout, from the deep blue of the living room wall to the soft kitchen island and contrasting tropical wallpaper, it pairs with the detail of the flooring for an aesthetic that is refreshed and refined.

Havwoods / havwoods.com

We pick out some innovative highlights from the many products launched over the past year…

Photo: Calvert Studios

THE YEAR IN PRODUCTS

Above: Polish architect and designer Mac Stopa has explored new themes and designs that let him express his artistic interpretation through the form of flooring. Using Forbo Flooring Systems’ high-definition digital printing techniques, the ‘Created by Mac Stopa’ Flotex range consists of graphical and expressive designs. The collection is split into four different designs, each of which are available in a variety of colourways: flower, trapezoid, wicker, and hexagon. Forbo / forbo-flooring.co.uk/macstopa

Below left: British designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby extended their AXOR One collection with a curated palette of coloured taps. Inspired by a specific set of naturally occurring interactions between light, colour and water, the

range features six new colours. Launched in 2021, AXOR One features over 30 products including basin mixers, bathtub mixers and a range of shower items, all characterised by slender silhouettes, flat surfaces, soft corners and balanced proportions.

AXOR / axor-design.com

Below right: MOD+ is a new modular collection by Italian brand GRAFF Designs. Comprising 55 separate bathroom products for the washbasin, bathtub and shower areas, each element can be customised, using an online tool to help design, specify and personalise. The range offers 20 finishes, including brushed brass and 24k gold, as well as options in Tuscan marble. GRAFF / graff-designs.com

THE YEAR IN PRODUCTS

Above: A new and imposing metallic monolith design from Minotticucine is the Maya kitchen. Designed by Alberto Minotti and crafted from 24k gold, the creation is the latest in the brand’s ‘age of metals’ series, following on from the Terra kitchen in cast bronze, designed by Claudio Silvestrin. Minotticucine / minotticucinelondon

Below left: German brand LUQEL introduced its luxury water station into the UK market, offering thirty different mineralised water recipes. The high-tech machine offers personalisation of mineral content for each user, as well as offering the option of still, sparkling, cold, ambient, or hot water. Water is purified using reverse osmosis before minerals are added to suit an individual’s taste. The dispenser

utilises a smart bottle system enabling it to remember the preferred settings linked to each bottle. It has been designed for use in a range of applications, including workplaces, hospitality, and sports and leisure.

LUQEL / luqel-water.com/en

Below right: Italian appliance brand Smeg partnered with The Coca-Cola Company to launch a new special edition fridge combining the two brand’s signature looks. The limited edition Iconic refrigerator – modelled after the retro FAB28 refrigerator – incorporates Coke’s signature red and white colour palette and SMEG’s retro design, merging the two styles to pay homage to 1950’s Americana. Smeg / smeguk.com

Transformative...

Knightsbridge handcrafts beautifully designed contract furniture in the heart of Yorkshire. Contact 01274 731 900 or enquiries@knightsbridge-furniture.co.uk to find out more.

knightsbridge-furniture.co.uk

Bathroom brand Kohler teamed up with artist/designer Nada Debs to create a beautiful custom hammam and tile design. The concept design –Transcendence by Nada Debs – was displayed at Design Miami recently and harnessed sustainability and wellbeing to create an eye-catching and inviting space.

The three-room space combined Debs’ ability to distil culture and craftsmanship with the design and material ideas of Kohler’s WasteLAB tile. The tile is part of the brand’s focus on engaging in a manufacturing process in which nothing is wasted and landfill-bound material can be used. The company says that in 2021, it diverted 11.38 metric tons of waste from landfill through sales and product development. The custom tile featured in this installation utilises material for both the tile body and glaze that originate from Kohler’s manufacturing waste streams.

You can explore the Transcendence installation by Nada Debs virtually at the Studio Kohler website.

One last thing from this month’s magazine…

THE BEDROOM

Our all new brochure featuring new ranges, innovative storage solutions and working from home inspiration. Perfect for a New Year makeover. Available now exclusively from Waterline.

CROWN - INNOVATIVE THINKING