Minimalism at the highest level with AXOR

In a perfectly planned bathroom, every detail makes sense and touches our senses: colour, materiality and light, the gentle splash of the washbasin tap, the massaging effect of a shower head on the skin or the scent of indulgent essences in the room. Luxury is being able to turn the mundane into a ritual, and in solitude to leave everyday life behind us. When it comes to the bathroom as an oasis, big spaces are by no means a prerequisite. What counts here is rather the how, which provides us with new strength every day.

So, what exactly does it look like? The answers are as individual as the personalities involved. AXOR is currently picking up on this insight with ‘Make it yours!’, a campaign that adds new inspiration to the design brand's popular ‘From Personalities for Personalities’ series. Once again, AXOR has collaborated with internationally renowned designers such as Spanish duo Masquespacio, Switzerland's Ushi Tamborriello as well as Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby from the UK. Here, we will take a look at the latter duo's concept in more detail.

Let's start with how Barber Osgerby themselves define the term luxury: ‘The idea of being able to remove yourself – of having time and space to think – it's luxury.’ They christened their proposal for AXOR ‘Skyline’ and, at just seven square metres, it is perfect proof that even in small, narrow bathrooms, great things can be achieved. They located their concept in a penthouse flat in London, a metropolis where space is naturally limited – ‘but not the sense of luxury,’ as AXOR logically points out.

‘The project was inspired by the move towards more compact living,’ says Jay Osgerby. ‘It’s a move away from the huge, lounging, spa-style bathrooms that we’ve come to know from the top-end of the market over the last few years, into creatively addressing compact spaces, particularly in urban environments.’ The designers manage to maximise the amount of daylight by using floor-to-ceiling windows and a large skylight above the shower, increasing the sense of space in what is really a compact bathroom. Says Osgerby: ‘It's about being clever with the space, by flooding it with light and offering views.’ It's also a charming move not to relocate this space to the unventilated and unlit core of the building, as is so often the case in contemporary housing.

The concept is complemented by huge wall and floor tiles in speckled green, which give the bathroom a monochrome character. In this way, the designers consciously deviated from the tendency to regard the bathroom as an extension of the living space, e.g. to merge the bedroom with it, because that is not always sensible or desirable. The tiles, named Primavera, were developed by Barber Osgerby for Mutina. The colour tone is supposed to provide relaxation and is a reference to nature. Of course, the ‘Skyline’ bathroom also features AXOR One, an archetypal range of fittings based on an intuitive operating principle designed by the pair for AXOR. This spring, AXOR One was presented in the new Matt White finish, as seen here in the bathroom concept. To match, the designers chose the AXOR Universal Circular Accessories – also in the brand new finish, of course.

‘For us, the Matt White finish represents purity, simplicity and calmness,’ says Osgerby. From the shower to the thermostatic module to the AXOR Drain, from the towel rail to the washbasin, the white is intended to contrast with the plain-coloured shell, to create a duality that makes everything around it seem a distant memory. This kind of consistency leaves no doubt that minimalism at the highest level can also be pure luxury – subtle, restful and individual.

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