HIX 2025 trend report: The top 3 influences currently shaping bathroom design

Best in show – Amelia Thorpe rounds up the hottest bathroom trends from this year’s HIX hotel design exhibition.

Celebrating the best in hotel design, HIX LDN 2025 took place at the capital’s Business Design Centre in Islington from 26th-27th November. More than 160 exhibitors showcased bathrooms, lighting, fabrics, surfaces and furniture to an audience of some 5,000 visitors, including designers, architects and hoteliers.

1 - SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability was the key theme of the show. Rising water and energy costs, warnings of water scarcity risks from the Environment Agency, building regulations and Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are all driving change, while the new Sustainability Reporting Standards (SRS) are imminent. As a result, most bathroom exhibitors at the show took the opportunity to showcase sustainability initiatives.

Roca showcased its Connect system, a cloud-based smart bathroom platform designed to enable hoteliers to monitor, configure and maintain connected products, such as smart showers, smart toilets and E-mixers – and so optimise water and energy consumption.

At Methven, James Roberts, UK specification manager, was busy promoting the Aio S shower head, optimised to deliver water at 5.7l/min using Methven’s patented Aurajet showering technology. "A 150 bedroom hotel at 50% occupancy rate would save £14,507 per year, compared to a 15l/minute shower head," he says. (Methven has an interactive calculator for hotels on its website, specifically to show the savings to be made by using a water saving shower.)

Even spa-like luxury has sustainability in mind. Italian brand FIMA Carlo Frattini, exhibiting for the first time at HIX, in partnership with C.P. Hart, showcased its minimalist Waterdot shower system. A series of small-diameter shower heads, inspired by recessed spotlights, can be positioned as required. Offering 4 different jets, the micro-heads are designed to deliver a satisfying shower at lower flow rates, particularly when using the mist or spray settings.

2 - MATERIALITY
Materiality was another strong theme. "It is redefining bathroom design," says Emma Mottram, head of brand & communications at Laufen, a brand which showcased Rivo glazed steel basins with PVD brushed metallic finishes, Volta ceramics made in its emission-free sanitaryware factory, the Arun vanity unit in real wood veneer and a Meda freestanding composite bath with copper-coloured exterior. "We are exploring the interplay of textures to create premium bathroom spaces that feel layered, tactile and truly individual," she says.

Other brands focussing on materiality included Grant Westfield with its Naturepanel and Multipanel wall panel collections in wood slat, shiplap and natural stone finishes, and Italian company Wall & Deco with its tactile (and colourful) waterproof wall covering collection, Aquabout Wet System.

INNOVATION AND FINISHES
At Roman, CEO David Osborne showed off the brand’s new stainless steel shower enclosures. "It’s a first in the industry," he says. "The key advantage is that we can PVD finish the stainless steel in just about any colour, without any of the visible grain that you see with aluminium." He also points to the tensile strength of stainless steel which will allow for thinner profiles and fewer visible fixings.

A choice in finishes was also evident across all brassware exhibitors, with brushed brass, velvet black and dark bronze dominating tap and shower displays. Collections from exhibitors such as The Shower Lab, Majestic, Bagno Design and Gessi offer a large variety of finish options to allow designers the opportunity to individualise their schemes and co-ordinate across an entire suite of products, while shower drains from TECE, bathroom lights from Corston and accessories from ABI Interiors take the vogue for finishes beyond tapware. Says David Osborne, "HIX gives us an opportunity to see trends in the hotel market and get ready to launch them in retail."