The best of both worlds
As early as 1994, just one year after the Hansgrohe Group established the AXOR design brand, Starck set the first milestone in the collaboration with his design for the ‘Salon d'Eau’: the ‘water living room’, with which he unceremoniously questioned the character of the bathroom as a purely functional place. His alternative concept: a living space characterised by natural materials and no tiles. A place where you want to linger, refreshed and relaxed. Part of this was his first collection for AXOR: ‘AXOR Starck’ with a washbasin, toilet and a free-standing bathtub. ‘There are many groundbreaking ideas that Philippe Starck has brought to AXOR and even to the entire industry. The two most important ones were to think not only about the object, but to design a room and, of course, to rethink the interaction between people and products,’ says Olivier Sogno, Vice President AXOR.
With the brand from Schiltach in the Black Forest, the designer has found a courageous partner who offers him the perfect technology and freedom of design. This was followed by taps, washbasins and bathtubs, which always went against the grain of short-lived trends, and which fulfilled the essence of the matter: Dispensing water without wasting the resource, offering intuitive operation and a sensual design in terms of colour, shape and feel. ‘AXOR's collections were and still are a great success because they are absolutely not fashionable, so they cannot go out of style. Timeless design is something that teaches something useful, that has the ability to improve the quality of life in all its aspects,’ says Philippe Starck. ‘AXOR Starck’ was followed by other bathroom collections that are already considered classics today, such as the “AXOR Starck Organic” faucets with ergometric handling, “AXOR Starck V” with a removable spout made of crystal glass or porcelain, the modular “AXOR Shower Collection” and the linear “AXOR Shower Composition” with maximum function and minimum use of resources. ‘In fact, everything is based on actual needs and habits; it's never the other way round. A shower – and bathroom equipment in general - must be flexible and adaptable enough to fulfil all individual needs,’ he says.
A design that has the potential to become a lifelong companion is also demonstrated by the ‘AXOR Suite’ washbasin and bathtub, made from SolidSurface material, a non-porous plastic made from mineral fillers that is particularly durable. With numerous options for the design, including metal frames, these can be selected to match all other AXOR products in the bathroom or serve as a sculptural soloist. Reinventing the bathroom, creating a sense of well-being and at the same time demonstrating the high value of water as a resource through design: Philippe Starck has solved this challenge for AXOR. In the same stroke of the pen, the designer has created a bridge between universal design and individual aesthetics. ‘It's not just about the product, but also about the way we want to live with it,’ says Philippe Starck.
