The clean winner Gustavsberg

THE CLEAN WINNER

High-quality bathroom products supplier Gustavsberg is proud of its ability to marry the best of its long heritage with a commitment to fresh Nordic design. Emma-Jane Batey spoke with the marketing manager Katharina Klotz, to learn more about how the company is bringing its ‘modern classic’ style to customers across Europe.

Gustavsberg has certainly earned its reputation for creating high-quality, affordable and accessible bathrooms. Founded in Gustavsberg, Sweden, in 1825, the company has a solid history of producing bathrooms for customers that value both functionality and beauty.

A wholly owned subsidiary of the Villeroy & Boch AG Group, Gustavsberg is one of Sweden’s leading brands in the bathroom sector. With its HQ located just 20km outside Stockholm, the company has two production facilities, both in Sweden, manufacturing products for customers across Scandinavia and, increasingly, further afield. Offering a combination of traditional quality with modern technology and contemporary design, the Gustavsberg promise is very much in tune with its reputation as a ‘safe choice’.

Brand awareness

The marketing manager, Katharina Klotz, spoke to Industry Europe about the Gustavsberg brand and its strengths. She said, “Our brand awareness is our key strength; we have earned our reputation for excellence over almost two centuries! People across Scandinavia are well-aware of Gustavsberg and what we stand for – attractive, functional bathrooms that make everyday life that bit more pleasing. Gustavsberg has been at Sweden’s side for so many years that we are part of the community. After all, we’ve been making Sweden’s toilets since they were first introduced!”

The core values of Gustavsberg rest on the three points of Scandinavian design,

functionality and sustainability, and the company knows that to continue its success it must also continue to harness its strengths. Ms Klotz continued, “While we are certainly innovative, we also know what we do well and we work hard to make sure that we don’t change for change’s sake. That’s the real beauty of Gustavsberg.”

Offering products for the entire bathroom, Gustavsberg’s portfolio includes everything needed to create bathrooms large or small, classic or modern, colourful or understated – all in the stylish Nordic design that has long been popular across Scandinavia and has become increasingly popular worldwide. The portfolio is suited to all types of bathrooms, from private homes to flats to multi-family buildings and large-scale public buildings.

Ms Klotz explained how the Gustavsberg portfolio is the ‘safe choice’ for a broad range of customers. She said, “Even though we keep our designs fresh and offer new colours and shapes, we know that buying a new bathroom is not something people want to do too often. Residential customers might only want to change their bathroom every 10 or 15 years, and for our project business, where customers are working on commercial renovation for rental properties, that might be only every 25 years. And the bathroom needs to look good and work beautifully all that time. So we have clever materials that don’t let white porcelain turn yellow, for example, and smart technology that means the flush works just as well in its 15th year as it does in its first. We have fun with our products but they’re not throwaway.”

Safe and stylish

Even though Gustavsberg is known as a ‘safe choice’ for customers, that does not mean it is the boring choice. With the Gustavsberg reputation founded on its ability to deliver high quality, Nordic design-focused bathrooms at an accessible price, the company is pleased to reliably provide a product and service that customers can trust.

Primarily active across the Nordic and Baltic countries, Gustavsberg is the biggest name in bathrooms in Sweden and a major player in Finland and Norway. Offering two brands – Gustavsberg as the ‘safe choice’ for quality Nordic design, and Villeroy & Boch as a premium brand from its parent company – it is able to supply and deliver products across Europe. Ms Klotz added, “We work with classic outlets for bathroom products, quality DIY chains and we work directly with carefully chosen wholesalers too. We have strong relationships with the specifiers of project business too and are keen to speak with people who value the importance of good bathroom design for their projects.”

Sustainability has long been a key issue for Gustavsberg and its latest product developments reflect this. The new hygienic flush toilet is a new generation product that is set to boost the company’s profile across Europe. With no upper rim, this optimised toilet is easy to clean and very hygienic as there are ‘no little corners for bacteria to hide’. Ms Klotz added, “This is the latest invention in toilets. The water flushes right up to the bowl. It looks great too.”

Another recent launch from Gustavsberg is its water-saving taps. Already popular worldwide – customers in water-restricted Australia are particularly pleased with the water economy – these taps have passed the strict Swedish legislation for A-Class wash basin taps and are suited to bathroom and kitchen applications.

Gustavsberg is growing across the world, with Ms Klotz noting it has ‘big hopes for Russia’. She concluded, ‘We will continue to grow in our existing markets as well as expanding into new markets. There is still huge potential for growth in our local Stockholm market as it is enjoying a surge of property development at the moment. We also see great opportunities in various European export markets where property development is partnered with a focus on sustainability and good design.” n