AXOR Celebrates 25 Years of Kitchen and Bathroom Design

The AXOR brand celebrates its 25 anniversary this year. Conceived and crafted to technological standards, AXOR collections are created in collaboration with architects and product designers, such as Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio and Jean-Marie Massaud. A dedicated website for the U.S., www.axor-design.com offers an overview of the brand and the latest collections.

Ryan Ramaker, senior director of marketing, product management and product development, says, “AXOR embodies luxury. From the numerous collections with designers like Philippe Starck and Patricia Urquiola, to revolutionary water prototypes and AXOR WaterDream concepts that inspire and inform collections, AXOR has been instrumental in shaping the evolution of the bathroom for a quarter century. The brand continues to redefine aesthetics, water design, and functionality in its ever-expanding range of award-winning faucets, showers, and accessories.”

The latest AXOR product introduction is the AXOR Uno collection. Designed in collaboration with Stuttgart-based design studio, Phoenix Design, AXOR Uno takes luxury back to the basics with a purist focus on the form and function of pipes, one of the oldest and consistently used forms of channeling water. Cylinders joined at right angles, and rounded spouts and handles form a marriage of both form and function. The collection is available in chrome or brushed nickel and in 13 special order AXOR FinishPlus colors, including brushed red gold.

When a new AXOR collection is introduced to the market, it becomes part of its design legacy, joining a portfolio of timeless design classics from the past 25 years. By designer collaboration, these include:

• Philippe Starck for AXOR: The grand maestro Philippe Starck has created not one, but three ranges for the brand. Starck’s debut design from his 1994 collection remains to be an iconic product on the market, the AXOR Starck Single Hole faucet, which employs a joystick handle. Other popular collections include the AXOR ShowerCollection with Philippe Starck, which offers a geometric modular shower system based off a 5- by 5-inch square, as well as the AXOR Starck X line. In 2013, AXOR Starck Organic turned heads with its shower spray and silhouette.
• Jean-Marie Massaud for AXOR: The AXOR Massaud collection, which debuted in the US in 2007, takes its cues from nature, with organic lines brought into harmony with geometric forms. Among the designs are faucets and tub fillers with flat spouts that resemble blades of grass and emit a waterfall flow. The collection is based on Massaud’s 2005 AXOR WaterDream.
• Patricia Urquiola for AXOR: Acclaimed designer Patricia Urquiola trained her dynamic and graceful sensibility on the bathroom as a living space for her AXOR Urquiola collection, which launched in the U.S. in 2010. Inspired by Urquiola’s AXOR WaterDream, the line combines nods to nature with attention to detail, clean edges, and quality workmanship.
• Antonio Citterio for AXOR: Celebrated architect Antonio Citterio has collaborated on several collections for the brand including AXOR Citterio, AXOR Citterio M, and AXOR Citterio E. Introduced in 2015, AXOR Citterio E faucets and shower components are not only characterized by flexible implementation, but by ease of use and tactility.
• Nendo for AXOR: The Axor LampShower by Nendo—a cross between lamp and showerhead from Japanese design studio Nendo—was introduced in the U.S. in 2015. The concept first came to life in the form of the Axor WaterDream with Nendo—Nendo Chief Designer Oki Sato’s imaginative installation—which served as a prototype for the collection.
• Front Design Group for AXOR: The sculptural form of meandering pipes, simple plumbing joints and valves, usually hidden away in the walls, were the inspiration for Front Design Group’s WaterDream with AXOR. The project resulted with the introduction of AXOR ShowerProducts by Front, a range of shower fittings that debuted in the U.S. in 2015.
• Phoenix Design with AXOR: Phoenix Design, a Stuttgart-based design studio, has been a collaborator on AXOR products. Recent introductions encompass additions to AXOR Montreux in 2017, including a range of kitchen and bath products rendered in the style of the first commercially-manufactured fittings.

“The wide range of styles within the AXOR product portfolio invites users to explore what they find inspiring, enabling the discovery of perfect and individual solutions for the design of a luxurious bathroom or kitchen. Though the collections are all aesthetically varied, exceptional design, craftsmanship, and functionality extends throughout the entire assortment of AXOR faucets, showers and accessories,” adds Ramaker.