Some extraordinary gadgets and accessories are now finding their way into luxury bathrooms. Abhilasha Ojha finds the humble space completely transformed.
The humble bathroom is fast getting a makeover. Scrubbing away its simplicity, it is getting dressed in expensive accessories and bespoke spas (more on that later) and a sharp design focus are the new trends. “Yes, we are bringing spas into the homes of the rich and influential,” says Hemant Atrish, CEO, Technology Pools, busy completing projects in Europe, UK, Middle East and, of course, India where discerning clients are moving several notches up the regular steam, sauna and jacuzzi facilities.
And they’re moving ahead in style. Atrish shares an example of a spa that he had done for a client in Surrey, England. The client wanted a complete makeover for his bathroom; to create a more Zen-like style and convert it into something more than just a bathroom that would seat not one, two or three, but six people!
So, six massage jets were positioned along with other fittings, including a special water proof plaster with the entire spa getting a glass-mosaic-tile finish. What’s more, special in-built light fixtures were created (with colour changing lights installed too) along with a heating and ventilation system fitted to the room (it’s not wise to call it just a bathroom, right?). “You could organise a party in that space,” laughs Atrish. The cost: Rs 4 lakh onwards.
Never mind the recession, it seems that when it comes to bathrooms, gadgets and accessories are getting better and fancier. While nicely ensconcing a spa, where you’d once only washed and bathed, is on top of the list of must-haves, there’s no dearth of other options for the humble bathroom. Take fcml, the makers of luxury bathware and other home accessories, for instance.
The brand also promotes a range of international bathware brands, and Gessi, for example, has launched its Private Wellness line in India through fcml for the summer season. Since wellness is the trend for season 2009, most brands are concentrating on hydro-therapy. So Gessi’s chromotherapy shower (which costs Rs 1 lakh) is actually a hydro-massage system with water jets with different spray selections including a rainfall and even a “water-blade” option.
Even Villeroy & Boch has “invisible jets”, part of a bath tub and costing nearly Rs 3 lakh. Speaking of showers, the choices are aplenty. There’s DormBracht that’s just announced its new range of showers for Indian consumers. It’s called Rainsky-E and it comes complete with a special electronic control panel. While the shower has separate groups of nozzles through which water can, for instance, drench the body but not the face (you heard that right), the electronic panel ensures a cascading rainfall in your bathroom. What it means is that you can switch off the “head spray” nozzles while switching on the other nozzles. The panel also has two strip lights for atmospheric lighting, which can be conveniently wired through the bathroom light switch. The cost: Rs 27 lakh.
But what makes these showers so expensive? At fcml, also a company which houses a majority of these international designs, the spokesperson explains that it’s the design technology that goes into creating the products that makes all the difference. There are different materials used; I remember seeing a basin priced at Rs 65,000 at the fcml showroom in the NCR where the special steel finish material was the same as that used in NASA spaceships!
By that yardstick, the “UFO” bathtub by Agape is special too. Priced at Rs 29,66,000 this bathtub, instead of the usual ceramic, has a stainless steel polish inside and outside. The company that has just completed 36 years in the business of designing bathware, has moved from washbasins to more complex yet engaging designs in a range of taps, bathtubs and showers too. In fact, its KAA shower, made of silicon in bright orange, also won the 2005 Design Plus award.
“The bathware segment has a growing potential in India. We aim to achieve revenues of Rs 400 crore by 2012,” says Duvva Prasad, director (sales), Grohe India.
Designed smartly, Grohe’s “free hander” is priced at Rs 28,395.
But in what’s the ultimate in bathroom luxury brands, Swarovski and Kludi, having collaborated for 18 months, came out with a stunning concept in what Kludi calls “bathroom architecture”, which is essentially a unification of three basic elements in bathroom architecture: blend of water, light and crystal. Sparkling, cut crystal by Swarovski and unique bathroom fittings by Kludi have resulted in what the spokesperson calls a milestone in bathware.
From the looks of it, the Swarovski-Kludi combine looks like a simple bathroom solution. But it’s the unison of materials like granite, limestone, ceramics, crystal, glass, wood and chrome that has led to the creation of two separate bathroom designs, including Delight and Passion.
Sigh, if only there was enough water in my colony for that luxuriating bath.
