Laufen's new Patricia Urquiola-designed showroom in Madrid

bath tub — Patricia Urquiola brings a warm design dialogue to the newest Laufen showroom in Madrid

(Image credit: Press)

It is often a stretch to describe a bathroom showroom as visually stimulating – but when Patricia Urquiola is behind the design, things liven up. The Spanish designer has loaned her Midas touch to Laufen's new Madrid outpost, showcasing the Swiss bathroom brand's wares at their most desirable.

Located in an historic villa built in the early 1900s, the space has been conceived as a platform where designers and architects can get experimental with the brand's modern collections. Here, Urquiola embraces her Mediterranean roots by imbuing clinical bathroom ceramics with a little warmth.

*Accents of vibrant colour enrich the clinical white collections*

Rather than staging mise-en-scènes, Urquiola has curated the products like sculpture – wall-mounted sinks and a pair of bathtubs mirror each other, arranged around a series of plinths. The Milan-based designer added hints of colour to the original architectural surrounds by way of dark marble plinths, vibrant side tables and tinted glass shutters that mimic the iridescent iterations of her ‘Shimmer’ collection for Glas Italia.

'The idea was to create a space with multiple functionalities,' Urquiola explains of the spa-like set-up. 'A new kind of showroom, where people can also work... an elegant and strict space.’ Wood, Perspex, resin and marble form the alluring backdrop to Laufen's ranges, which include collections by Konstantin Grcic and Toan Nguyen, both utilising the ultra-thin ceramic SaphirKeramik.

*The showroom is located in a historic villa from the early 1900s*

As a finishing touch, each room features a continuous black iron tube border, with gold corners for added elegance; a fine framing of Urquiola’s refined sanctuary in the Spanish capital.

bathroom interiors — Taking bathrooms out of their normal context, Urquiola reimagines Laufen's products as sculpture, with a series of sinks mounted on the wall in a grid...

...and all of the pieces set among Perspex and marble plinths

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Laufen website

ADDRESS

Laufen Bathrooms
C/Covarrubias 23
28010 Madrid

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Sujata Burman is a writer and editor based in London, specialising in design and culture. She was Digital Design Editor at Wallpaper* before moving to her current role of Head of Content at London Design Festival and London Design Biennale where she is expanding the content offering of the showcases. Over the past decade, Sujata has written for global design and culture publications, and has been a speaker, moderator and judge for institutions and brands including RIBA, D&AD, Design Museum and Design Miami/. In 2019, she co-authored her first book, An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture, published by Hoxton Mini Press, which was driven by her aim to make the fields of design and architecture accessible to wider audiences.