Circle of life: GROHE Atrio
Brand story by Alyn Griffiths
Düsseldorf, Allemagne
25.07.18
GROHE's Vice President Design Michael Seum explains how circular geometry was the point of departure for the Atrio series.
GROHE Vice President Design, Michael Seum, describes the new Atrio as “an icon of pure elegance and precision”
GROHE Vice President Design, Michael Seum, describes the new Atrio as “an icon of pure elegance and precision”
×Michael Seum is Vice President Design at GROHE and oversaw the redesign of the Atrio faucet. Here, he explains the challenges involved in updating a classic design.
How does Atrio fit in with the latest future design styles?
Michael Seum: This relaunched Atrio series is firmly rooted in our contemporary design segmentation, which is one of the most timeless styles within the GROHE SPA portfolio. I think as you look at the design elements, it is purely constructed from a single geometry – a circle yet with subtle classical design details. The result is an icon of pure elegance and precision.
Seum and the rest of the GROHE design team worked alongside the brand’s engineering specialists to integrate new technologies that facilitated the faucet’s precise and iconic form
Seum and the rest of the GROHE design team worked alongside the brand’s engineering specialists to integrate new technologies that facilitated the faucet’s precise and iconic form
×What was the main idea behind the redesign of Atrio?
Michael Seum: The idea behind the new Atrio is design permanence – the design is going to last a long time, it’s iconic. This is not about risk-taking design, but more about really paying attention to details and being obsessive about proportions. For me, the definition of iconic is when it can be drawn from memory. In ten years, this product will be as iconic as when we designed it.
How big a part does the teamwork between the designers and the technical engineers play in the success of revising an icon like Atrio?
Michael Seum: Alongside the work of the whole in-house design team, the realisation of the project was thanks to the incredible reservoir of engineering skill available at GROHE. The longevity of the product, the elusive qualities that go into making any iconic design, is not just about the visual work, but also the craftsmanship which is then applied to make the design a reality. This craftsmanship will in turn be something that the user experiences every day of the product’s life.
© Architonic
