Top 5 new bathroom categories in 2015…
Following on from our last blog talking about the 5 leading trends from Kohler’s Director of new product development, Mark Bickerstaffe, this blog looks at the top 5 new bathroom categories in 2015…
BATHROOM SURFACES
Digital printing and texturing has revolutionised tile and surface design recreating natural, vintage and seemingly authentic materials. Huge strides in the manufacture of thin, tough ceramic sheets at large scale mean we can now do almost anything. Smart glass is also transitioning from external to internal architecture – think self-cleaning and optically adjustable.
SHOWER EXPERIENCE
Kohler DTV+ revolutionises what we think of as a shower experience. For the first time we can design a whole body experience and provide it without unnecessary complication. This new technology means we can now seamlessly interweave water, steam, light and sound into the spa experience and customise to individual needs.
LIGHTING
Lighting remains the oft-forgotten essential to good bathrooms. OLED and digital technology now allow optimisation of hue and intensity to suit the time and task.
SMART TOILETS
The humble and ubiquitous toilet is undergoing a revolution. The intelligent toilet has become a new category – technology now enables us to improve hygiene by killing bacteria, controlling cleaning cycles for ourselves and the bowl and optimise resource consumption so as to use only what is required. Kohler’s Numi, Veil, Karing, C3 series, Pureclean and Purefresh are all examples of this.
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is already integrated into the products we see and use in the bathroom and codes and standards continue to drive improvement. What is lagging behind is consumer sentiment, driven in part by an individual’s available resources.
Kohler invests heavily in understanding the science behind what we do and need in a bathroom so as to explore new ways to minimise resource consumption without sacrificing the quality of the experience. This has led to such innovations as air induction and spray improvement in showering. Digital control, in which Kohler is a leader, is another. This allows the user to tune water consumption, temperature and duration so as to deliver a customised experience while also conserving resources such as water and energy.
Cleaning and hygiene is a hidden tale of sustainability. The reality is the impact of cleaning products on the environment is most often far more significant than the manufacturing of the product in the first place. By concentrating on this Kohler products are made easier to clean and maintain long term.