I headed to Berlin last week to attend the launch of the Axor Starck Organic bathroom collection, which is a collaboration between design genius Philippe Starck and the German company Hansgrohe’s luxury brand, Axor. The collection combines a sleek, organic faucet form with a revolutionary way of saving water.
Philippe Grohe discussing Axor’s history with designers
The Axor/Starck collaboration began 20 years ago and each design has become iconic. This latest design was three years in the making and you can easily see why. While Starck focused on the design, Philippe Grohe, head of the Axor brand, was behind the technology to make it work. The faucet houses 90 separate outlets that release little pearly drops of water that you can actually feel. With the average faucet using 7 liters of water per minute, the Axor Starck Organic line consumes only 3.5 liters per minute, which is half the norm. The best part is that you can’t even tell you’re using less water.
Starck talking about the design
In typical Starck form, the design is fun one. It’s a curvy, branch-like shape that was nature-inspired. He even mentioned it being inspired by the human body – his wife’s to be exact.
The Axor/Starck partnership is a perfect match. Both are passionate about what they do and are insanely excited about each design. No seriously, Starck is a firecracker and had all of us hanging on his every word.
Grohe and Starck explaining the features
Another great feature is the two separate controls – one for volume of water and the other for temperature. The control at the end of the spout is what turns the faucet on and off, meaning your hands reach the water a lot quicker than they would with regular top-mounted knobs, thus saving water. The control at the top of the faucet controls the temperature of the water and it even comes with an energy-saving cold setting.
Starck standing off to the side letting Grohe do his thing
They had a room set up for everyone to get their hands on (and under) the faucets.
Starck and Grohe held a Q&A in the display room and took questions from the crowd.
The branding is all about “Harmony of Head and Heart”
Signage on the outside of the E-Werk building where the launch took place
Listen to Starck discuss the new collection:
Joe Wood on 09.26.2012 at 10:50 AM
Beautiful!
Guan on 09.26.2012 at 11:57 AM
This faucet looks great and if the flow has been designed to save water, that is even better. But the real test will be in actual everyday use. Philippe Starck designed toilets- Starck for Duravit – on the other hand, is a massive failure in functionality and the flush design is retarded since the water level rises and splashes out of the bowl during the flush and water from the flush pushes feces from the bottom of the bowl to float up. The result? You need to flush two, three, or four times before the bowl is clean. I wonder who designed the flush and water flow dynamics. Mr. Starck, the Starck for Duravit toilet really stinks and is ecologically horrible since it the flush dynamics pushed things up, not down.