Flamingo Estate and Kohler create a brutalist monument to bathing in Milan

At a moment when thermal bathing and sauna culture are experiencing a global resurgence, and as the biennial Salone Internazionale del Bagno returns to the Rho Fairground, we are fully expecting Milan Design Week 2026 to be awash with design-led bathing concepts. One such exhibit is The Flamingo Estate Bathhouse by Kohler, a serene collaboration between two American names: Richard Christiansen, founder of the 'pleasure-obsessed' Los Angeles-based lifestyle brand Flamingo Estate, and design-led kitchen and bathroom company Kohler.

Set within a leafy courtyard of the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea during Fuorisalone, the multisensory installation will be anchored by a brutalist bathhouse made by Kohler and inspired by the one found on Christiansen's Los Angeles estate. The bathhouse was one of the first structures Christiansen built after he bought the seven-acre hillside site in 2013. Based on a photo of an Alamut fortress in ancient Persia – a place where soldiers would be taken to bathe and rest, described as 'a temple of pleasure' – Christiansen's three-storey bathhouse sits at the bottom of the estate's garden, where birdsong fills the air, and features a fireplace and a poured-concrete tub that orients toward the sunrise.

'It's a place of ritual – somewhere I go to slow down, reconnect, and be fully present with myself and with nature,' Christiansen tells Wallpaper. 'It’s deeply personal. Reinterpreting it in Milan is about translating that feeling into an entirely different context – bringing a sense of nature-infused calm into the heart of a highly energetic environment. It’s less about replicating the original structure, and more about capturing its spirit and sharing that with a large audience on the other side of the world.'

Surrounded by wild flowers, the Milan bathhouse will be clad in an intonachino plaster finish – an Italian architectural coating that mimics the mineral texture, softness, and weight of concrete but without the mass. Inside, large stained-glass windows and over 200 wall-mounted Flamingo Estate candles will create a calm, almost church-like interior. Here, visitors will find a new polished-copper edition of Kohler's freestanding enamelled cast iron bath.

Outside, four one-of-a-kind pollinator baths will be dotted throughout the wild garden – conceived by Christiansen, designed by Kohler's design director, JB Han, and cast in the brand's historic Wisconsin foundry. Each one has a brutalist cast iron form but simple geometric patterns forged across its interior surface. The patterns, Han says, are inspired by natural habitats – textured, patterned, and scaled to support birds, bees, and insects.

'At Kohler, we’ve been thinking deeply about how design can reconnect people to elemental experiences, water, light, material,' says Han, reflecting on the project's beginnings. 'When we encountered Richard’s world at Flamingo Estate, it felt like a natural alignment. There’s a similar reverence for nature, ritual, and sensory living. This project became an opportunity to translate that shared mindset into something spatial and experiential.'

For Christiansen, Kohler’s ability to operate at an industrial scale while retaining a sensitivity to material and making was significant – a balance that mirrors Flamingo Estate’s own ethos. The project in Milan, the pair hope, will encourage visitors to slow down and reconnect with their surroundings, while showing how design can actively participate in nature rather than sit apart from it.

'It’s about creating objects that serve a living purpose – supporting the circulation not only of water, but of life – reinforcing the idea that design can extend beyond human use to actively support ecological systems,' Han explains. '[The design process] required a shift in perspective, from designing for humans to designing within an ecosystem. Instead of focusing on ergonomics and human-centred use, we began thinking about coexistence, how form, material, and surface could support other living beings.'

In California, the water from the Flamingo Estate bathhouse runs directly into the garden and irrigates the plants below – something that led Christiansen to create his first line of shampoos and body washes made from regeneratively grown ingredients.

'In this day and age, there’s so much focus on newness, and this installation is a reminder that the most meaningful experiences often come from slowing down and engaging with the natural world,' reflects Christiansen. 'If people leave thinking a little differently about their relationship to nature, then we’ve done our job.'

The Flamingo Estate Bathhouse by Kohler runs from 20-26 April 2026 at Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Via Palestro, 14, 20121 Milan, Italy

Check our guide to Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2026 ahead of and during the fair