1. Fixtures disguised as sculpture
Hand basins should look like hand basins, shouldn’t they? Not according to Italian bathroomware manufacturer Falper. This Wing Hand Basin brings a new kind of sculptured cool into
bathrooms, and is now available from Pzazz Building in New Zealand.
2. ‘Invisible’ fixtures
This sink isn’t just minimalistic, it’s damn near invisible. The KUB range of bathroomware from Milan-based architect Victor Vasilev really, er, stands out in a world of sameness and mediocrity.
3. Cool lighting effects
More and more New Zealanders are recognising the effects that lighting and ambience can have on our mood. It started with candles around the bath and has graduated to all kinds of lighting effects based around the versatility of LEDs. Looking a bit like an eclipse of the sun, this mirror from Falper demonstrates what can be done with clever under-lighting.
This
bathroom
takes amazing underlighting effects to the extreme, making the walls and ceiling look as though they are floating.
4. Natural textures
We tend to associate bathrooms with shiny easy-clean surfaces, but the avant garde are eschewing the clinical look for the authentic textures of the homes they inhabit. This home has been stripped back to bare basics – brick, concrete and a bare lightbulb. The only nod to modernism is the beautiful white bathtub looking like it was made on an enormous potter’s wheel. The underwear ‘hanging’ above, by the way, is just an image etched into the wall.
5. Picture windows
“You’d feel like a goldfish in a bowl,” I hear you say, but thanks to modern window films, picture windows can now be used in bathrooms, day or night, allowing you to view the world without the world being able to view you.
6. Super-slim fixtures
Traditionally we seem to have had the idea that bathroom basins should be large enough to bathe a baby in, but has anyone ever actually done that?
Modern designers have thrown that idea out and are not only producing floating vanities, but skinny basins which are only deep enough to drain away water flow.
7. Furnishings not traditionally part of bathroom decor
Furnishings such as rugs, lamps and armchairs. It seems that more and more people are spending more and more time in their bathrooms, and are furnishing them accordingly. And why not?
8. Showers integrated with the bathroom
Once upon a time, showers were little boxes tucked into the corner of bathrooms, but today, more often than not they’re an integral part of the room, especially if they’re wet area showers and don’t even have glass or walls.
9. A bedroom
You wouldn’t expect to find a bedroom in your bathroom but the latest trend is to integrate the two rather than put a wall between them. But wouldn’t the bedroom be damp? Not with modern ventilation and heating systems!
10. Smart design and technology
About the only smart things in an
old-style bathroom
was the shaver plug. The
latest bathrooms
are chock-full of technology designed to make life easier and more comfortable. There’s underfloor heating, climate control, ambient lighting, built-in music systems - you name it. And we love it when designers combine technology and design to create clever ideas that no one’s ever thought of before, like this integrated shower curtain rod and rose.
