Brothers in arms

Erwan Bouroullec
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Brothers Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec burst onto the scene in 1997, when their Disintegrated Kitchen debuted at Salon du Meuble in Paris and caught the attention of Giulio Capellini.

Today, the brothers collaborate with some of the biggest names in the industry: Vitra, Kvadrat, Magis, Kartell, Established and Sons, Ligne Roset, and Issey Miyake, to name but a few.

Voted Designers of the Year at Salon du Meuble in 2002, the Bouroullec brothers have garnered countless industry awards and accolades, including the Finn-Juhl Prize in 2008, and have had numerous exhibitions and books dedicated to their work.

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CID caught up with Erwan Bouroullec in Istanbul last month, at the Middle East launch of Axor Bouroullec, the brothers’ latest creation. A collaboration with Axor, the designer arm of German bathroom manufacturer, Hansgrohe, the new collection took six years to develop and represents the Bouroullec brothers’ first real foray into bathroom design.

The new collection is defined by a sense of freedom, with a total of 85 elements that can be configured in countless different ways. “The advantage of the open system is that we force people to ask themselves what they really want. This collection is going to be a catalyser of dialogue,” noted Philippe Grohe, head of the Axor brand. “No longer do mixers only have to be placed in the centre of the rear rim of the washbasin.”

Instead, fittings can be freely arranged almost anywhere within the washing area – on the integrated shelves, in front or next to the wash basin, or on the wall.

The wide, sturdy, white shelves play a central role in the collection, forming a consistent element in terms of design, functionality, serviceability and convenience. Smooth, simple, organic shapes make this a warm, uncluttered and intuitive bathroom solution. “The collection is made of simple building blocks. It’s not a Ferrari, just something really well done. A certain poetry comes out of it as the different elements come together.

The beauty is in the combination,” said Erwan Bouroullec. “I think sometimes the error in contemporary faucet design is that things are too complicated. If everything is over-designed, in the end you get a very noisy environment. We take a very different approach.”

CID sat down with Bouroullec to find out more about this approach.

How is designing a bathroom different to designing other products?

We were really focused on the question of how to find a language that would bring quality to every element in the collection, without needing to reinvent the idea every time. Because of this, during the development, I think we probably designed three or four full collections but we kept having to change direction because we realised that while some elements were strong, some were very weak.

It is very difficult to find a DNA that you can apply across an entire collection. Also, we were really obsessed with the idea that it should be designed well, with beautiful lines, but on the other hand we really wanted it to be quite sensual and warm.
Design is sometimes too cold. And especially in the bathroom, where the body is exposed, we really didn’t want to create a cold atmosphere.