Collaborations have been getting a lot of attention in the Indian home segment recently. Take Bengali designer Sabyasachi’s textured wallpapers and furnishings with vintage colourways for Asian Paints, for instance. Or Delhi-based Obeetee, known for its luxury rugs, which has had collaborative collections with designers Tarun Tahiliani, Raghavendra Rathore and, late last year, Shantanu and Nikhil. But bathrooms, now that is a different ball game. And this is where designers are stepping in now to add their creativity.
Bathrooms are a sanctuary, a retreat, and their spa-like possibilities have been explored extensively during the pandemic. This goes beyond the usual scented candles and potted plants for your musings on the toilet. With pale walls and antique mirrors, sometimes they resemble the sitting room albeit with added benefits like a good long soak. Bathroom collabs, therefore, benefit from a designer’s eye, as seen with VitrA. The Swiss furniture company collaborated with British designer Tom Dixon last September to bring out ‘Liquid’, a collection of sanitary ware fittings and furniture. With round edges and generous shapes, they can also work as standalone pieces. Liquid, to be launched in India later this year, has taken inspiration from Victorian churches.
Counting carats
Meanwhile, the palatial arches and royal historic monuments in India have been the starting point for another recent launch. We are talking about German luxury bathroom manufacturer Sternhagen’s collaboration last month with jewellery designer Farah Khan. The luxury bathroom suite, ‘Scherezade’, echoes the jewellery aesthetic the Mumbai-based Khan is known for among her A-list clients. Not surprisingly, the highlight of the Sternhagen x Farah Khan collection is the Aayat faucet crafted in silver and embellished with 473 natural diamonds weighing 8.62 carats!
“A bath suite is more than just a place to take a shower. It’s where one pauses to think of the day to begin or the day that has gone by,” says Khan. With delicate gold and silver dominating the colour palette, Scherezade stands out for its calm tones. Khan, who has worked on quartz and ceramic as a jewellery designer, says she found it easy to elevate these materials in a bathroom suite. From towel holders to bidets, each accessory has her jewellery brand’s motif FK, named Aayat. As for the faucet, priced at ₹15 lakhs, it certainly sets the bar for glitzy bathrooms. “I wanted to design something iconic and striking for this collection that has my identity on it,” explains Khan. “As a jewellery designer, working with diamonds and precious gemstones is usual and a diamond bathroom accessory would definitely be one of its kind that will instantly elevate any bathroom space.”
