It all started with the Salon d’Eau, which included the AXOR Starck collection in 1994, a collection which has become an icon of bathroom design. Over 30 years the partnership between AXOR and Philippe Starck has constantly found new ways to reinvent the bathroom and will continue to innovate in the years to come…
Design has not only played a key role in how we furnish and organise our lives, but also in the development and growth of the sanitary industry, particularly in recent decades. But how? For design to shape our perception and influence our everyday culture, it must find the right expression for a need, a Zeitgeist or a new function. Of course, this is easier said than done, because the ‘right’ forms and the necessary functions are often easier to recognise in retrospect than during the design process. To enact any real change, this requires a combination of designers with vision and a strong creative instinct and entrepreneurs with imagination and courage. One of the best examples is surely Philippe Starck and AXOR, who are this year celebrating their partnership’s 30th anniversary.
Image credit: AXOR
Philippe Starck, one of the most visionary creators of our time, uses design as a creative tool to provide a service. His prolific and multiform work demonstrates what creativity can achieve when it is used to both innovate and play with traditional patterns and design styles – always with respect and humour. Today, we can see in modern bathrooms what was hidden for so long under the surface of standardised tiling and stereotypical ceramics: still a highly functional space in which high-quality materials, colours and a sensual feel are combined with contemporary and elegant shapes. In 1994, Starck contrasted the ‘wet room’ with the Salon d’Eau, literally translated as the ‘Water Living Room’. Radical and successful, this concept completely changed people’s perspective of the bathroom.
Image credit: AXOR
“There are many ground-breaking ideas that Philippe Starck brought to AXOR and even the entire industry. The two most important ones were not only to think about the object, but to design a space and, of course, to rethink the interaction between people and products,” explains Olivier Sogno, VP AXOR.
The Birth of the Design Brand, AXOR: Until the late 20th century, most bathrooms were functional wet rooms. The idea that you could spend longer than necessary in the bathroom because you wanted to feel good was still alien to most people. As was the idea of wanting to personalise this space. It was precisely because Hansgrohe recognised the potential of the bathroom as a living space that the company established its own design brand, AXOR in 1993.
AXOR built on the experience of its sister brand, hansgrohe in the field of design and consistently expanded it. However, it has also developed its own approach: If you want to help shape the transformation of the bathroom, the best way to do this is together with designers, interior designers and architects. To this day, the variety of selected design partners from these disciplines with whom AXOR works successfully is unique. This is also based on the conviction that real progress is more likely to be made if all those involved are given as much freedom of design as possible and if they engage in an open, collaborative dialogue. For over 30 years now, AXOR has been working with the world’s best architects, interior designers, and designers to develop visions of the bathroom as a living space and collections that offer a variety of sustainable solutions for the realisation of personal bathroom spaces and the individual use of water.
Image credit; AXOR
It all started with the Salon d’Eau, which included the AXOR Starck collection in 1994. The image of a bathroom with a freestanding bathtub, washbasin and toilet, including the taps from this collection, and a room flooded with daylight, without tiles, and characterised by natural materials, was both a revolution and a commercial success that still influences our idea of modern bathroom design today. The AXOR Starck collection has become an icon of bathroom design. It is still one of the most successful bathroom collections AXOR has launched to date.
Commenting on his first collection with AXOR, Phillipe Starck said: “A design icon cannot be trendy or unfashionable. It has to be timeless in order not to become outdated. Iconic design is something that teaches something, something useful with the ability to improve the quality of life in every respect.”
Based on the theory that good design creates products that are not only beautiful, but also functional, AXOR and its design partners develop solutions at the highest aesthetic and technological level that allow for the respectful, conscious use of water, while at the same time providing new pleasure in the water experience.
“With AXOR, we share a deep love of water. We come from water, we are made of water, and we need water. I have an atomic relationship with this element, and I am always sad when this vital treasure is mistreated. That is why I wanted to work for the protection and preservation of water. AXOR had the same vision. If you want to save water, it shouldn’t be a punishment. The only way to make these iconic taps successful was to present water like an upgrade,” continued Starck.
Image credit: AXOR
In autumn 2012, AXOR wrote another chapter in bathroom history: together with Philippe Starck, the design brand presented AXOR Starck Organic, inspired by setting new standards in design, water handling and the water experience. “The AXOR Starck Organic collection features a new ergonometric handling – to save water in an easy and harmonic way. This places this product at the highest level of ecology,” explained Starck. “The shape comes from the tight line of the vegetal and the human body to remind us of the fundamental relationship between humans and saving water”.
In 2015 followed the creation of AXOR Starck V, the most innovative of AXOR taps which pays a tribute to the beauty and magic of water, as “for the first time, we have the opportunity of really experiencing water: only water and air, vortex, and matter,” noted Starck. The tap features a removable spout made of organic crystal glass or porcelain for easy cleaning.
Image credit: AXOR
Perfection in production and function also applies to the shower – AXOR ShowerComposition, which was launched in 2023, brings a new, modern and timeless design style to the shower area. Whether as an all-in-one shower panel or an individual arrangement of floating modules, the design impresses with exceptional performance, such as the PowderRain spray type of the overhead shower and the shoulder shower with an adjustable angle of inclination. AXOR ShowerComposition offers multiple functions with minimum resources. Also in 2023, the AXOR Suite washbasins and bathtub completed the AXOR x Philippe Starck bathroom. Each piece is made from hard-wearing and durable SolidSurface material. Flowing contours, precise curves and soft inner basins create a clean, contemporary look with universal appeal. At the same time, custom-made elements such as the metal wrap-around of the washbasin and the bathtub shelf allow users to express their individuality with AXOR FinishPlus surface colours.
“The key words for the future and ecology are longevity, transmission and heritage. AXOR Suite combines metal with SolidSurface – a high-tech material – and thus stands for longevity and elegance. It is designed for eternity,” concluded designer Philippe Starck.
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Main image credit: AXOR
