26 November 2008

New, Italian bath design


Excuse me while I pretend that I'm European and make a bunch of sweeping generalizations about national character. 

Nobody does bath design like an Italian company. It would be interesting to figure out where the Italian fascination with running water comes from. Is it some residual, Roman need for clean water or is it the fact that their tap water tastes so good? Whatever's underneath it doesn't matter because what's visible is so stunning.

These are some new bathroom designs from the Idea Group. The Idea Group is in Treviso, in the Veneto Region of northern Italy. Treviso is also the headquarters of DeLonghi appliances. 

Disegnato in Italia --designed in Italy, means a lot to Italians and Northern Italians in particular. Again, to make some more sweeping generalizations, there's a celebration of the every day in Italian culture. Details matter in Italy, and there seems to be some kind of an Italian genetic predisposition to make everything as beautifully functional as possible. It doesn't matter if it's an Alessi salt shaker or a pair of Prada shoes, a lot of thought goes into otherwise mundane objects.

Anyhow this is about Italian bathrooms. I get Idea's e-newsletter and here's some of the highlights from their current collection. I never get to do work like this but if I were given carte blanche to do whatever I wanted with a bathroom, it would end up looking something like these gorgeous photos.








Ahhh, pared down and clean --everything a bathroom should be, in Italy or anywhere else.

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