Ideal Standard launches new era of Design at ISH 2019
Dubai, March 2019 – In December 2018, Ideal Standard, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of private and public bathroom solutions, announced its exclusive long-term partnership with renowned design studio Palomba Serafini Associati. The first results of the new collaboration were revealed during “ISH 2019”, the world’s leading trade fair on the responsible management of water and energy in buildings taking place in Frankfurt, Germany from 11 to 15 March 2019.
Ground-breaking design has always been part of Ideal Standard’s DNA, by working with Master designers like Achille Castiglioni, Paolo Tilche, etc, influencing society as a whole and redefining the role of the bathroom within it. The company draw on its strong design heritage, taking inspiration from previous iconic products to create new, contemporary collections that will drive the brand’s overall design philosophy and shape the bathrooms of the future, marking the beginning of a new era of Design.
Now, Ludovica and Roberto Palomba – masters of international design with over 25 years’ experience delivering innovative bathroom design concepts – have unveiled the first outcome of their work with Ideal Standard. This comprises a range of unique ceramics and fittings, as well as furniture and a bath tub, and in a bold move sees a return to the use of colour to enhance modern interiors projects.
Timeless ceramics: The new Conca, Fittings with function & beauty
The Conca series was originally designed for Ideal Standard by Master designer Paolo Tilche in 1972, and it had profound impact on the culture of design. In their contemporary design interpretation, Ludovica + Roberto Palomba kept the geometries and sensual details of the original design, but brought Ideal Standards’ advanced manufacturing technologies into play that enabled a new level of purity in the design, unthinkable in the 1970s.
Roberto Palomba: “Taking on an iconic design like Conca from a Master designer I have admired since I started my career is both exciting and scary. I am extremely proud of the result and believe we were able to create a piece that fits today’s trends while retaining its unique, sophisticated character”.
Ideal Standard’s new CONCA series of basins presented at ISH 2019 as a world premiere is complemented by two distinct series of faucets designed by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba: the cylindrical JOY and the exceptionally flat basin mixer CHECK. Both add a different, unique character to the Conca basin. Furthermore, the renowned studio designed a stunning free-standing bath tub in Conca design, as well as an architectural toilet and bidet range called BLEND that integrates Ideal Standard’s industry-leading hygiene features, including revolutionary AquaBlade® flushing technology,
Creativity with colour
Colour has played a fundamental role in Ideal Standard’s history, with ceramics particularly in the 1960s and 1970s being chosen to complement surrounding materials. It was during this era that the bathroom moved from a purely functional space to one that supports and enhances the design impact of a building. Now, Palomba Serafini Associati has evoked this memory with the introduction of a stylish new colour palette.
Ten new ceramic colours – including Black Gloss, Slate Grey, Kashmir, Sage and Pomegranate – join White Gloss and White Silk to offer a complete palette that brings a sense of emotion to bathroom interiors. Some colours hark back to historical Ideal Standard designs but with a contemporary, elegant finish, while others are entirely new and have been designed to complement popular modern materials, such as marble and stone.
The new colour palette will be available on Ideal Standard’s Ipalyss basin in Q3 2019 and on Conca when it launches in 2020.
Shaping the Future of Modern living
For more than 100 years, Ideal Standard is focused on Innovation and Design to make life better for customers. Working closely with leading universities, architects, urban designers and construction companies around the world, Ideal Standard aims at positively shaping the future of modern living, meeting the needs of customers today and anticipating the demands of modern life tomorrow.
At ISH 2019, Ideal Standard showcased this vision through a number of innovations and new product offerings like its comprehensive pre-wall installation system PROSYS™. Premiered at ISH, PROSYS™ perfectly complements the company’s revolutionary silent and hygienic WC flush technology AQUABLADE®. The innovative NAVIGO® platform with its push button technology provides the ultimate personalized shower experience in hotels as well as at home. For public washrooms, the new generation of Ideal Standard’s touch-free, soap integrated sensor-tap INTELLIMIX® and the newly developed, mobile-enabled SPHERO™ anti-splash urinal provide ultimate convenience to both users and operators.
The next generation of Ideal Standard
Central to Ideal Standard’s core identity is the expression of “Together for Better”, where ‘better is the promise to customers, trusted partners and the millions of people who use Ideal Standard products every day’.
Through the collaboration with Palomba Serafini Associati and the recent creation of a Global Design Center in Milan, Italy, Ideal Standard targets to create a distinct design style, looking at the bathroom as part of the architecture in its entirety ‘where all things are considered’ and that is marked by its purity and simplicity.
As mentioned by Roberto Palomba, “A well-designed project completely transcends its function and becomes timeless”. This is what Ideal Standard calls ‘The Eternal Value of Design’: a synergy of functional perfection and aesthetic beauty where design gives meaning beyond function and quality is second to none.
