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The Vintage collection by GRAFF Designs, a unique range marrying industrial style with rich heritage. Inspired by the Chicago Fire Department’s heroic role in extinguishing the state’s Big Fire of 1934, GRAFF Designs pays homage with this tactile and vintage style brassware.

Reminiscent of the iconic fire hose valve silhouette and mirroring the red logo of the Chicago Fire Department, the collection boasts exquisite craftsmanship and detail, from its architectural elements to its modern take on traditional design. Comprising 140 stylish products including bath and basin mixers, showerheads and rails, as well as an accompanying accessories range.

Formed with precision engineering and premium-quality materials, the Vintage Collection is available in 21 luxury finishes including 24K polished gold, vintage brushed brass and the classic limited-edition red.

Available to buy now in the UK with prices starting from £500 for a basin mixer in Chrome, up to £5,500 for a 24K Gold freestanding bath shower mixer.

For more information, expert comment or imagery, please contact the team at [email protected]

About GRAFF

GRAFF’s luxury taps and shower collections elevate the bath space with designs that are both timeless and cutting-edge, complementing endless architectural and interior styles. Available in 21 luxury finishes such as Brushed Brass, Polished Nickel, and 24K Gold, and with a choice of three Tuscan marble inserts, GRAFF basin mixer or shower controls offer bespoke and unique customisation possibilities. Backed by a rich heritage of European artisanship, GRAFF products transform the bath space into a masterpiece of tranquillity, wellness, and spa like experience. With a focus on design, sustainability, and high technology, GRAFF caters to the senses with features such as chromotherapy, bringing bath and shower experiences to luxurious heights.

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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.

About Kohler Co.

Founded in 1873 and headquartered in Kohler, Wisconsin, Kohler Co. is one of America’s oldest and largest privately held companies comprised of nearly 38,000 associates. With more than 50 manufacturing locations worldwide, Kohler is a global leader in the manufacture of kitchen and bath products; engines and power systems; premier cabinetry, tile and lighting; and owner/operator of two of the world’s finest five-star hospitality and golf resort destinations in Kohler, Wisconsin, and St. Andrews, Scotland.

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As a contrast to the hectic outside world, consumers are looking for valuable me-time to relax body, mind, and soul. At home, the bathroom is often a vital place for finding a moment of peace.

Providing the right products to meet customers’ high demands and helping them to create their own personal retreats is key, with awareness around wellness and health at an all-time high. In response to the growing health and wellness trend, GROHE, a leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, is extending its premium product portfolio with the reinvented GROHE Allure line and the new GROHE Rainshower Aqua Body sprays for an enhanced shower experience. No matter if you are designing a spa landscape for a resort or a private bathroom, GROHE offers the freedom to tailor the space to your customers’ needs.

Progressive designs and carefully chosen materials, finishes, and colours, combined with high-end technology, will stand out in any bathroom project.

“These exclusive new products are especially dedicated to architects and designers who want to transform their clients’ bathrooms into a holistic wellness oasis at home that becomes a perfect hideaway to recharge body, mind, and soul. GROHE Allure is defined by a progressive design that allows full design coordination, creating unique bathroom experiences. These memorable, unique spaces will stand out in any project. In addition, a palette of carefully curated colours and finishes enables architects and designers to add a personal touch,” says Patrick Speck, Leader, LIXIL Global Design, EMENA.

GROHE-Allure-four-hole-deck-mounted-bath-filler-and-hand-shower-in-Brushed-Cool-Sunrise

Luxury and sophistication for the bathroom with the reinvention of GROHE Allure

The popular GROHE Allure tap line has been updated. The design statement captivates with its minimalist and extraordinarily slim design – now even more appealing due to its refined aesthetic. By combining state-of-the-art water technology with German craftsmanship, the tap offers a distinctive highlight. Thanks to distinct haptic feedback, the precision control of the three-hole basin mixer offers a unique tactile experience and improves interaction.

The new GROHE Allure offers designers and architects the opportunity to create a perfectly harmonious bathroom experience according to their customers’ personal tastes. The versatile range also encompasses floor-mounted taps and waterfall spouts for the bathtub, which allow for a holistic, coordinated design. For tasteful accents in the bathroom, the Allure line offers a choice of different colours and finishes: Chrome, Brushed Cool Sunrise, Brushed Warm Sunset, and Hard Graphite – all perfectly coordinated with GROHE Allure Accessories.

A soothing shower experience for the home spa

With the Rainshower Aqua Body sprays GROHE launches a showering highlight which upgrades the daily routine with a pulsating water massage. Control is intuitive via a pop-up design: when the water is activated, the body sprays pop out of the cover plate, allowing users to switch between the Rain and Active Jet spray easily by simply turning them. When the water is turned off, the body sprays pull back and blend into the shower surround
completely, resulting in a slim, minimalist design for optimised space in the shower.

Full freedom of choice is guaranteed with round and square designs, available in different GROHE Colours to match any bathroom style. Additionally, the new body sprays enable eco-conscious water usage thanks to water-saving GROHE EcoJoy technology. GROHE Rainshower Aqua Body sprays make it easy to successfully combine responsible consumption with a luxurious showering experience.

GROHE-Allure-collection-freestanding-bath-filler-in-Chrome.-Estimated-availability-end-of-2021

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.

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This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a minimal shower tray design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Acquabella.

SBID Awards Category: Bathroom & Sanitaryware

Practice: Acquabella

Project: Flow Zero

Flow Zero is the new shower tray by Acquabella. It has been designed to fully merge with the water. The shower tray is silhouetted by soft lines that direct the water towards an almost homogeneous grid that can easily accommodate the significant volume of water that flows over its surface.

A design perfectly in line with the softness of its Zero texture, a microtextured finish that fits perfectly with the Flow Zero model. The shower tray immerses us in a universe of calm and relaxation through the use of minimalism in its purest form, applied to the bathroom.

The SBID International Design Awards programme serves to recognise, reward and celebrate design excellence across a broad range of categories spanning Interior Design, Product Design and Fit-Out. Click here to find out more. 

Have you ever wondered what tomorrows bathroom will look like? Will there be a radical change? Rather than just being a space where people can groom and clean themselves the bathrooms of the future are likely to become a lot more interactive and linked to the masses of information we receive in other areas of our lives. But which technologies will futuristic bathrooms incorporate?

Drawing on predictions by designers of futurologists, a report was put together which suggested that bathrooms of the future are more likely to become high-tech. The report, compiled for bathroom provider ideal standard international, showed how people’s behaviour and the use of the bathroom is changing. Amongst other innovators the designers have pointed out some of the technologies which may be seen in a few years time.

Interactive mirrors

Interactive mirrors are going to be the next ‘big thing’ in future bathroom designs. The interactive mirror will be the first to greet you in a morning. The mirror will interact with children brushing their teeth, providing them with step by step guides, or simply encouraging them to brush everyday with cartoon videos. For the older generations, the mirror will assist you by focusing and zooming in on certain sections on the body, for example, you may want to zoom into your eye lid to help you apply eye shadow.  Mirrors will be touch screen and interactive, this is a future which will allow us to have ‘iphone like’ mirrors to welcome us every morning.

Self-sufficient toilets

Toilets will become self-sufficient by processing human waste and transforming them into useful resources. The Californian Institute of Technology in the United States designed a toilet with self-powered solar panels which will generate hydrogen and electricity. The solar panels will be strong enough to break down human waste into hydrogen gas which will then be used to provide a backup energy source for night time operation or use under low-sunlight conditions.  Not only that, a new and ingenious ‘all in one’ toilet design is on its way.  The design acts like a Swiss army knife with the three elements- a toilet, a tray and sink, being able to fold into one compact unit. Toilets are also going to become self-sufficient with their energy usage and will be able to self clean, using steam and UV lights.

Perfect mood showers

Showers are a way to get you ready for the day without spending too much time whilst doing so. Well, that was a thing of the past. With new future designs being leaked over the internet it has become apparent that people may now want to spend a little more time showering. Futuristic showers are looking to have reclining chairs which will help you relax while using their steam facilities. Many shower designers have now been looking at incorporating tanning units of 400 watts along with double UV filters so that owners can shower and achieve the perfect tan at the same time. That’s not all, others are equipping DT VII performance showers with digital menus which allow people to mix up their shower experience, by playing any music through the incorporated mp3 players and controlling light settings according to your mood.

A final word. Bathrooms are becoming a lot more interactive and suiting to the personality and characteristics of the home owners.  Each fixture of the bathroom won’t just be used for its traditional intentions; there will be other aspect of your personal life incorporated within.

Written by our guest blogger Alexandra Jackson.

Writer Alexandra Jackson is an interior design enthusiast who usually blogs for Bathshop321 on topics covering all areas of home design, renovation and improvement

 

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