At the recent Milan Design Week in June 2022, Kohler Co. made a successful debut at the Salone del Mobile fairgrounds in Rho, showcasing a selection of its latest products in a booth designed to inspire and engage. In line with the brand’s reputation for innovating in the worlds of kitchen and bathroom design, the booth displayed luxury fixtures ranging from sleek shower heads and faucets to impeccably engineered valves and controls, reaffirming Kohler’s commitment to innovation and crafting immersive wellness experiences.
Inspired by iconic furniture and design, the Statement shower collection introduced to visitors a range of unique shapes, sizes and innovative sprays. Defined by soft, elegant forms, the collection marries striking aesthetics with a sense of familiarity that make the shower space both relaxing and sophisticated. The Anthem valves and controls, meanwhile, are designed to be tailored to exact specifications to craft a personalised showering experience, and when shown in conjunction, both ranges reinforce Kohler’s position as an industry leader in bathroom design.
Also presented at Kohler’s booth was the Stillness bath, which is inspired by Japanese forest bathing and combines water, aromatherapy, lights and fog for a unique bathing experience. Other highlights included the elegantly minimal Brazn bath collection, the Occasion bathroom faucet collection and intelligent toilets like the Numi 2.0, Veil, Eir and Innate, all of which champion sleek design and carefully engineered personalisation functions such as lighting and audio.
Away from the fairgrounds at the Palazzo del Senato, Kohler unveiled an immersive art experience by artist-designer Daniel Arsham as part of the FuoriSalone programme, using the moment to announce a multi-year partnership between designer and brand. Entitled Divided Layers, the site-specific installation was inspired by Rock.01, the 3D-printed sink Arsham designed in collaboration with Kohler in 2021. After the fair the installation was declared the winner of the Fuorisalone Award 2022, awarded to the most memorable event as selected by the design community. The monolithic sinks inspired Arsham to create an experience of ‘moving through the sink’. This experience took the form of a series of stacked panels combined to form a walkable tunnel, each panel referencing a single plane of the 3D-printed clay that is layered to form the sink. The large-scale installation also included a pond that mirrored and reflected the opening of the cavernous volume, in all creating a deeply meditative experience.
“The flow of water is experienced in both negative and positive space, regardless of a form’s function,” said Arsham. “In Divided Layers, visitors experienced being within the sink, rather than as a user of a functional piece.”
To celebrate its debut at Salone del Mobile, Kohler also donated to Water Mission’s WASH projects in Indonesia, helping to bring safe water and sanitation to 10,000 people through 15 projects in 2022 — an initiative that upholds Kohler’s philosophy of enhancing the quality of life for current and future generations through design, craft and innovation.
Re-visit Kohler’s Salone exhibition by visiting the virtual booth: Featured KOHLER Events | Studio KOHLER
