Sonar Re-Imagines the Washbasin – Metropolis
With Sonar, a recent assortment of sanitary fixtures, Swiss toilet specialists Laufen are taking full benefit of the design alternatives opened up by SaphirKeramik, a flexible, malleable, and sturdy ceramic materials the corporate developed. A singular ceramic materials with revolutionary high-tech attributes, Saphirkeramik is the results of years of analysis by Laufen to create a brand new era of merchandise.
Designed by Patricia Urquiola, Sonar re-imagines the washbasin, providing a collection of new shapes, configurations, and conveniences not present in conventional toilet fixtures. Even the identify of the gathering hearkens to the fabric’s lightness and malleability, she says.
“I favored the thought of utilizing the little waves generated by sound. The feel on the skin of the washbasin bowls was modeled on these waves. I not solely needed to work with the lightness of the ceramics, I additionally needed to discover a strategy to design its floor,” she says.
The inspiration of sound waves echoes all through the gathering, texturing the outside floor of things such because the oval-shaped free-standing bathtub. Fitted with an integral faucet ledge and a spherical dish that attaches to the bathtub’s slim rim to carry physique care necessities, the bathtub is a balanced mixture of the sensible and the stylish.
The motif additionally finds its method into the D-shape of the gathering’s basins and bogs, which recall the outward ripple of sound waves or a pebble dropped in water. A sloping entrance that’s accessible on a number of of the basins is made potential by the brand new materials and channels water to a transverse recess the place a drain hid beneath a canopy whisks it away.
Urquiola capitalized on the fabric’s lightness so as to add new merchandise to the gathering together with a compact double bowl washbasin that, due to SaphirKeramik takes up solely as a lot house as the one bowl model, with out compromising on basin quantity.
To accent the clear strains and sterile whiteness of the SaphirKeramik washbasins, she paired them with self-importance items accessible in gold, copper, and titanium metallic finishes in addition to a black limestone with white veins. The Sonar assortment consists of floor-standing and wall-mounted washbasins, two washbasin bowls and a double washbasin bowl, additionally accessible in white matt and all fabricated from SaphirKeramik. All washbasin bowls could be ordered with textured or easy surfaces; the washbasins are solely accessible with easy surfaces. A tub within the attribute assortment design, fabricated from Laufen’s high-tech Sentec materials, completes the ensemble.