A look back ahead: Dornbracht

Social changes require newly conceived living and furnishing concepts. People are searching for security and well-being, but also for clarity and authenticity. This affects all areas of everyday life in various ways, but especially the bathroom as a private, intimate and highly personal refuge.

Dornbracht has been a pioneer in bathroom architecture for seventy years and once again underlines its design and architectural expertise with its new brand promise ‘Leading Designs for Architecture’. As the first new product under the newly launched programme, the CYO series of fittings aims to create lasting value with enduring iconic design. At the same time, it is a response to a longing for materiality, authenticity and long term value. ‘With CYO, we have deliberately drawn on a design from our archives and thus on Dornbracht's design DNA, consistently transforming it into the present. CYO tangibly embodies our attitude through the highest-quality materials, manufacture and craftsmanship, because the new design series stands for looking back while at the same time looking forward,’ says Stefan Gesing, Dornbracht’s CEO, who is leading Dornbracht into the future.

Sieger Design, a long-standing partner of Dornbracht, was behind the design of CYO. With its claim of always designing the right product for the right time, Sieger Design further developed the characteristic C-spout as a pure, organic interpretation, but also as a logical, natural continuation of the flow of water. They were inspired by the sophisticated Dornbracht Series 2000 dating back to 1969, which carried a sense of revival and a new opulence. ‘Design always deals with the needs of people in their respective times. Today, we appreciate the familiar and the tried and tested, but with a new contemporary perfection and quality,’ says Michael Sieger, whose design for CYO follows this very philosophy, namely, an advanced series of fittings that transform an archetypal language of form into the present and the future.

The striking, unmistakable circular form and the bi-structural surfaces of CYO, which elegantly combine glossy and matt surfaces, are further complemented by some refined details. The innovative handle, for example, which controls the faucet with a rotating outer ring with finely tuned louvres, makes the high precision and quality of craftsmanship a haptic experience as well. The handle inlays are available in a wide selection, including six special exclusive surfaces made of precious natural stones and intricate structures that are interchangeable, giving architects plenty of scope for a high degree of personalisation.

‘A design that stimulates others’ was the declared aim for the CYO bathroom architecture developed by designer Mike Meiré. The creative director, who has collaborated with Dornbracht many times before, responds to the new longing for places where authenticity can be experienced. In relation to his new bathroom designs, Oasis and Metropolitan, Meiré says, ‘The desire for the natural, for authenticity, is growing; for materiality and tactility as a counterpoint to our increasingly digital environment. In architecture, the need for more free space is expressed through more flexibility – a shift from closed spaces to open, adaptable zones.’

With two completely different designs, Meiré reflects ongoing changes in social values and the increasingly dissolved boundaries between work life and private life. The Oasis Bathroom has been designed as a place of retreat, in which the circle is consistently used as an architectural form. Here, people connect with nature and the outside becomes an integral part of the inside. CYO becomes the central focal point.

The Metropolitan Bathroom, in contrast, is based on the concept of creating a balance to the shimmering outside world and deliberately plays with strong contrasts. On the one hand, the Metropolitan Bathroom functions as a mental and physical source of strength, and on the other, it opens up to panoramic views of the city, while also representing a space for personal development. Meiré describes it by saying: ‘Whether energising, revitalising, slowing down or protecting – all Dornbracht bathrooms share a sense of arrival. CYO creates a home in the metropolises of the world.’

© Architonic