GROHE SPA reflects 'health through water' immersive installation during milan design week

GROHE‘s Milan Design Week 2023 installation reflects one of the Italian city’s most historic museums in the courtyard of Pinacoteca di Brera, designed and set up by the in-house design and brand identity team LIXIL Global Design. The leading company of sanitary fittings creates an illusion of infinite expansion as a means of celebrating the revitalizing of sub-brand GROHE SPA. The four mirroring cubes that are nestled in the corners provide the interior spaces for the reinterpreted and redefined 3D-metal printed products and collections, along with advanced technologies, materials, colors and finishes.

‘Even when they’re cleaning the pool, it looks like they’re walking on water. People get scared! The illusion is really working. Brera is such a busy district, so it’s good to see people stop and being impacted. It’s an installation that allows visitors to both relax and walk around, but also explore the functionalities and commercial sides of the products,’ begins Patrick Speck, Leader LIXIL Global Design, EMENA, in an interview with designboom.

GROHE SPA brings the spa at home with progressive designs fused with carefully selected colors, materials, and finishes

all images courtesy of GROHE SPA

The leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings revitalizes its sub-brand, GROHE SPA, with the founding concept of experiencing water holistically on the body, mind and soul. Since 2014, the company has been part of the portfolio of LIXIL, manufacturer of pioneering water and housing products, which puts together the ‘Health through Water’ installation. The courtyard of Milan’s Pinacoteca di Brera gets filled with water to honor GROHE SPA with four cubes where each houses the brand’s main tiers: Icon 3D; Private Collections; Color Materials, Finishes; and Light, Steam, Sound, Smell.

‘For the first time, we are making sure that we will have a sub-brand or a luxury brand within GROHE that we can differentiate and dissociate in a way from the past of the brand, but still get the connection. So if you think of it like a pyramid, GROHE SPA will be at the pinnacle with the most advanced technology, sustainability, material quality, color choices, and even new services. It’s a win-win and positive association for both sides, as the new aesthetic and machines are also going towards a slightly different direction,’ continues Patrick Speck.

GROHE SPA transforms the bathroom into a home spa

Guided by the underlying belief that water is the source of vital energy, GROHE SPA transforms the bathroom into a home spa, not just by using individual products, but by creating a complete, all-around experience that embraces the positive effects of water. The portfolio of this bespoke bathroom design ranges from elaborate faucet collections, ceiling showers and intricate ceramics to complementary accessories. The fact that all is customizable gives architects, designers and planners the freedom to select and adapt the optimal design that can match customers’ personal needs and character.

‘I would say that in terms of technological ways, one of the tiers of our SPA brand is the idea of absolute customization. We’re using 3D printing to achieve that, which gives us extra possibilities like adjusting everything on CAD. We need to create unique pieces – mass production is almost impossible for our brand. There was a case study with an architectural practice who was designing a restaurant. They needed a special fitting to a basin they had already created, and the one we had, ICON 3D, couldn’t even fit. We adjusted the particular form with in 3D and with 3D printing, turning this into a product you cannot find anywhere else,’ he remarks.

the stainless steel GROHE Icon 3D collection, inspired by the shapes of nature, pushes the limits of 3D-metal printing

Part of GROHE SPA are the reinterpreted Atrio and Allure Brilliant Lines, which allow a choice of different color, material, finish, and handle options to help design one-of-a-kind bathroom pieces. Additionally, with the Aqua Rainshower Ceiling Shower Modules the shower experience can also be tailored to the user’s personal preferences. To further add to the versatility of the brand and to enable end-consumers to enjoy an authentic marble style with a high-quality finish, GROHE partners with Caesarstone, the global pioneer of premium countertop surfaces, to craft faucet handles in the brand’s durable quartz designs.

‘GROHE SPA allows us that experimentation that we cant do through mass production. Another example is our first time collaboration with Caesarstone, for which we created a range of craft faucet handles. We really brought the best mixtures of both worlds of design technology and knowledge of materials,’ explains Patrick Speck.

GROHE Rainshower Aqua Ceiling Showers

The water-inspired installation reflects not only the art museum and the statue of Napoleon, but also the brand’s exclusive products and approach towards wellbeing. Each of the four physical cubes nestled into the space is dedicated to one of four tiers that bring GROHE SPA to life. First, the Icon 3D collection, which includes the 3D metal-printed products immersed into the sounds of the printing process as well. The second tier is comprised of the bespoke Atrio and Allure Brilliant Private Collections curated with a range of colors, materials, finishes and handle designs. The collaboration with Caesarstone is also made visible as the black and white marble divides the space into two halves, demonstrating the many combinations that the collections make possible.

‘We wanted to create a special experience for our guests – just like our GROHE SPA products do. Brera is an opportunity that we had to take in terms of history and architecture. We wanted to find a way to bring in water in a sustainable way, but also make this installation simple and digestible for whoever comes. That’s why we’ve created these cubes as points of attraction, which all of a sudden seem to disappear before you see this beautiful pool, which is only an inch deep. It was designed by ourselves, our teams, from the conception of the installation to the products and communication – it was our process 360 degrees,’ he explains.