HotelDesign’s Patrick Goff catches up with Ilke Hussein at Laufen’s stunning showroom within the Roca London Gallery in London’s Imperial Wharf. This was ahead of Milan’s Salone Del Mobile, where the manufacturer will celebrate a very special birthday and launch a raft of new products.This year’s Salone del Mobile marks a very special anniversary for Laufen, as the company celebrates 120 years in business. How have things changed during that time?
“Laufen was founded 120 years ago, as a pottery factory and took its name from the little Swiss town where it was originally based. During this time it has developed into the largest global manufacturer of bathroom ceramics.”
This is an interesting exhibition on the evolution of bathroom, here in the showroom, and certainly shows how products have developed.
” Since the industrial Revolution,when machines were first being introduced into the working environment, Laufen’s factories kept the character of traditional craftsmanship, despite its ceramics now being manufacturered in considerable quantities. The challenging shapes, surfaces, edges and sizes of our designer pieces are beyond the capabilities of even the most modern of machines so the human touch is still a very important part of our production, and sits comfortably alongside the most high tec of automated systems to ensure we can produce the quantities required to remain competitive.”
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