ISH 2023 is taking place from 13th to 17th March, when the great and the good from the global bathroom industry will descend on Frankfurt in Germany to talk business, products and trends – we take a look at the key influences on bathroom design going forward.
For ISH 2023, the popular Pop up my Bathroom trend exhibition is making a comeback with lots of new and important products for lifestyle-oriented bathrooms – this time around, the showcase will be located in the middle of Hall 3.1. It will address four trends that will play a crucially important role in holistic bathroom planning over the next few years. This time, the makers of Pop up my Bathroom will be presenting trend developments for small bathrooms, exploring the options for sustainable bathroom design, building a walk-through wellbeing studio and homing in on the emotional side of bathroom design.
1. Sustainable Bathroom: A top theme at ISH 2023
Sustainable bathroom design is perhaps the most important of the four top trends on show in The Bathroom Experience at ISH 2023. Pop up my Bathroom presents sustainability in the bathroom as a future concept that strives for the optimal combination of smart, water-saving and energy-saving products, eco-friendly industrial production, sustainable materials and enduring design – while simultaneously conveying a sense of being in touch with nature. But for many people, that’s no longer enough. The Sustainable Bathroom is therefore placed in the overarching societal context of consumer trends like zero waste, which are transferred to the bathroom as the basis for the ideas shown.
2. Tiny Bathroom: A new bathroom typology with huge potential
The trend towards compact bathrooms for urban homes is prompting the industry and bathroom planners to develop innovative solutions specifically tailored to small spaces. Combining the highest standards of comfort and convenience with a new modesty, the Tiny Bathroom is emerging from its niche to become an on-trend model for a large number of consumers. Its distinguishing characteristics are a simple aesthetic, new, scaled-down product categories, smart solutions, comfort and convenience, as well as a high degree of customisation. The digitalised production of made-to measure components for the vanity unit, bathroom furniture or shower provides the necessary technical capabilities. At the same time, a Tiny Bathroom calls for a great deal of precision, as well as meticulous planning and workmanship.
3. Wellbeing Bathroom: An experience for all the senses
Turning your own bathroom into a private spa comes with the promise of regenerative time out with health-promoting benefits – a little piece of luxury. For years now, wellness has been the keyword in this context. But if you take a holistic view of the bathroom as an important element for wellbeing, there are several other components that play a role in addition to wellness: mindfulness, taking time for yourself, being active, a neat and tidy home, eating healthily, simplicity. As a lifestyle trend, wellbeing doesn’t just mean seeking relaxation, it means engaging in meaningful activities that increase contentment and make us happy. A Wellbeing Bathroom can play an important supporting role in all that – with both simple and highly complex products like a bathtub or whirlpool (for indoors or out), an infrared sauna or individually programmable showers, classic water applications, a clean aesthetic, smart products for therapeutic lighting and experience-enhancing multimedia features, or a personal space for health-promoting activities. A bathroom for wellbeing is a place where all the senses are alive or come alive – with water as the key element.
4. Emotional Bathroom: High emotion beats hi-tech
The bathroom has become a feel-good space within the home. Planning and implementing a bathroom is however a complex process that has traditionally been determined by technical considerations. But while the bathroom’s evolution from a purely functional room into a lifestyle space has seen the part played by aesthetic factors increase disproportionately over the last few decades, the pressure to opt for sustainable equipment, the arrival of LED technology, the desire for connectivity and the increasing programmability of various functions are now promoting a more technical image again. At the end of the day, however, there’s one thing the bathroom’s users want more than anything else: pure emotion. Pop up my Bathroom explores how to bring emotionality into holistic bathroom planning. What impact does the combined effect of colours, shapes and materials have? Which learning processes for design techniques on the visible side of the wall quickly lead to satisfying results? Because even if hi-tech is still fascinating to begin with, it soon becomes a means to an end again. And the real goal of bathroom planning is high emotion – an emotional bathroom design based on colour, light and sensory appeal, achieved by means of sanitaryware and smart equipment. The actual technology vanishes behind the wall.
