In this movie produced by Dezeen for Grohe, vice president of design Michael Seum explains the concept behind the brand's water-filled Milan design week installation, where it launched its latest collection of faucets.
Grohe, a manufacturer of sanitary fittings for kitchens and bathrooms, revealed its pared-back redesign of the Atrio faucet collection during Milan design week in April.
The range centres around a minimalist mixer faucet with circular geometries.
"Atrio is a new collection of faucets within our spa category designed for the luxury market," says Seum in the movie.
The design is a stripped-down take on previous iterations of the Atrio collection. "It's more about what we didn't do," claims Seum. "Atrio is a line of simplicity and reduction. It's about balance and symmetry."
The installation was showcased in the recently renovated Grohe showroom.
Visitors were invited to enter a dark space, inside which faucets from the Atrio collection were installed atop the surface of a pool of water. Behind the faucets, an abstract video introducing the collection played, while drops of water fell from the ceiling into the pool below in time to a musical soundtrack.
Ripples created by the falling water droplets reflected and distorted the imagery displayed on the video screen.
"Atrio's design is derived from a circle," states Seum. "In the installation, we really celebrate that. You see it in the video, you see it in the water rippling."
"You have reflections, you have the sensorial elements of the water," he continues. "It's all interplaying together. It becomes an integrated story. And that's the philosophy of the design, we wanted to integrate into different environments."
The installation was open to the public throughout design week, which took place from 17 to 22 April 2018.
Upon leaving the installation, visitors entered the showroom, where the faucets were installed in a number of different ways to demonstrate how they can be used in bathroom environments.
"What we're looking for is an emotional response to inspire the design community around the future potential of the Atrio collection," says Seum.
This movie was filmed by Dezeen in Milan for Grohe.