Dutch architect and brains behind Alessi’s magnificent ‘Dot’ bathroom, Wiel Arets, was in London last week to showcase the range. We leapt at the opportunity to talk to him about his designs and, at the same time, discovered a mutual hatred for toilet seats, dirty shower corners and a love for champagne in the bath...
Click here to see the ILBAGNOALESSI dot range.
Why do you think as an architect were you commissioned to do a bathroom range for Alessi?
Alessi works with a lot of designers obviously, but also a lot of architects too, so I don’t think it’s too surprising that Alessi decided to commission me as an architect to design a bathroom. Bathroom fittings are something architects deal with in their practices, so it’s not as big a challenge as creating soft furnishings say.
Where did the inspiration for Dot originate?
Dot happened for several reasons. Perhaps the biggest is because we’re living in an age when the dot of alessi.com becomes kind of ubiquitous, it just seemed a very fitting way giving concrete recognition to something abstract. But in relation to the bathroom, I was thinking about water, and water for me has a kind of softness. It led me to think of round shapes and the dot made sense. Quite early on we wanted the dot and the circle to be used throughout the range. Although when people look at the products they think maybe they’re square or rectangular but the circle is everywhere and in my opinion it gives the whole range a softer, more timeless appeal. We were very clear that we didn’t want to do something fashionable, we wanted it to still look new in ten years.
And the dot makes for a subtle and harmonious contrast with the abstract geometrical shapes of the range.
Yes but the geometry was developed because we know that when we clean, we stand flat up against the products and have to bend over or down. So we chopped off all the angles so you can clean it much more easily. The geometry also works well for the toilet: usually you have to stand so far away, but our design helps you to get closer to it, if you know what I mean?
Indeed, maybe it’s obviously designed by a man?
Ha, yes but the softness of it is quite feminine. Also the hole here in the lid is actually for two reasons. One is that you look through the lid to see that it’s not a massive product and the other is that you can lift it without touching the rim.
I always hate having to lift the lid there.
I know I hate it too. I think that this is a much more hygienic place to lift the lid than underneath.
So actually the abstract shapes were more for practical reasons than as an aesthetic contrast to the dots?
Two reasons: one is practical - it is easier to clean - and the second is to make a big block products like the bath look lighter. All the parts that have a circle or dot are where you would put something in (like a finger) and where water comes out, whilst the contrasting flatness is where you can store things, be it water or beauty products. All the circular things we created in the series are 48 mm so all the metal fittings are actually from one tube.
And was 48mm a particularly harmonious proportion or was it a technicality of engineering?
Well I thought 48mm was heavy enough, but not too heavy and not too light and then we discovered it worked for all the dots throughout the range, from the showerhead to the overflow and even to the discs that hold the mirror in place... you need only three by the way, they try to sell you four, but it should not be symmetrical.
Do you feel you approach product design from a different perspective as a trained, practicing and established architect?
I think I’m not so concerned with giving shape to products. I think usually product designers are trying to give shape to things and I think I am much more interested in experience. When I am sitting in the bathtub I would like to be able to sit with two people so it should be wide enough. I should be able to put my glass of champagne on the side.
So you think about the practicality of the experience more than the aesthetic appeal?
I think the big difference is that the designer loves the product, he wants to make the nicest product. As an architect you want to make space so the product is the opposite. Actually the best for me is when people don’t see the product - they feel happy with the experience of using the product but they should not see it. That is my feeling. At the moment I’m designing a telephone and for me what’s important is how ergonomic I can make it.
Form over function for designers and function over form for you?
Yes maybe, although we should not distinguish so crudely, it is always bad to black and white designers and architects too much. I think that is the reason why Alessi likes to work with architects as well as designers. We approach things differently.
Do you feel standing in the bathroom that you have designed that this is the essence of what people want from a bathroom space?
I think for people what is important is how you clean a bathroom, a bathroom is principally about hygiene. For example with this shower cabinet, we put the glass not flush against the wall with silicone, we put it a small distance away from the wall so that when you wash yourself the water will never come out, but you can also get between the glass and the wall to clean it easily. I think a good bathroom series needs to be practical, easy to clean, and easy to use etc. It is timeless, it has no pretension, it is professional and it is not trendy. That’s why I think this is quite an interesting series.
INFORMATION
ILBAGNOALESSI dot, designed by Wiel Arets, made by Laufen bathrooms
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