Here is a collection of projects by product design students from ECAL – Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, based on the Axor Bouroullec bathroom collection by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec (see our earlier story).

Top: Élastique by Joschua Brunn - Élastique is an add-on meant to give additional possibilities of storing accessories. Its quite reduced, almost ready-made, it underlines the curves of the collection.
Above: Zen Tools by Giulio Parini - After taking a shower and when the bathroom becomes filled with steam, use the zen tools to decorate and play with the foggy mirror.

The students took inspiration from the Bouroullec’s collection and developed new objects and accessories.

Above: Wireframe Holders by  Thibault Faverie - Instead of placing your bathroom accessories directly on the sink, elevate them. The soap is put on a pedestal, the brush is dressed up with a handle and the sponge lurks out of a shell. These micro-architectural pieces create a rhythm and question the functions of their respective plug-ins.

Photographs are by ECAL / Julien Chavaillaz.

Above: Hideaway Covers by Sarha Duquesne - Inspired by miso soup bowls, those lids allow you to keep your personal belonging out of view while keeping them dry when you are taking a bath or washing your hands.

Here’s some more information from the university:

Axor Bouroullec & ECAL

Presented at Langenthal’s (Switzerland) Designers’ Saturday, last weekend, here is a selection of projects from the 1st year students in Master in Product Design at ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne University of Art and Design, following a workshop led by Alexis Georgacopoulos and Tomas Kral.

Above and below: Mobile Bases by Felix Klingmüller - A series of mobile base elements for the Axor Bouroullec fittings. It carries on the same basic idea of giving the user the freedom to compose the positions of the bathroom fittings.

The students had to get inspired, reinterpret and develop objects and accessories based on the new Axor Bouroullec collection.

The concrete elements are attached to the faucet, lever or tap and then connected to the water supply with a hose that allows the user to flexibly change the position of the fittings.

The projects were exhibited alongside the Hansgrohe-Axor presentation.

Above: Intersection Plates by Jung-Cheng Su - Inspired by hidden shape of the wash basin. These three wooden plates can be placed in perfect harmony around your Axor Bouroullec collection.

Designers’ Saturday is organised in Langenthal by five companies: Ruckstuhl, Création Baumann, Girsberger Sitzmöbel, Glas Trösch, Hector Egger Holzbau.

Above: Drawing Soap Kit by Jung-Cheng Su - Soap chalks and sponge that serve as a holder and eraser. The perfect writing kit to leave morning messages to your beloved.

The Designers’ Saturday exhibition venues are located on the premises of these firms – at workshops of the local design industry and at the City Center in the heart of Langenthal.

Above: Float Radio by Daniele Bortotto - A float radio, similar to a buoy, that you fix to the handles and other elements of Axor Bouroullec’s bathroom collection, the same way you moor a boat.

Above: Upgrade by Doganberk Demir - By adding to existing plates from the Axor Bouroullec series handles and legs, Upgrade mainly focus on how we place, store and carry around our personal belongings in the bathroom.

Above: Screens by Diane Du Chaxel - Screens to conceal objects and accessories, emphasizing the purity of the Axor Bouroullec’s basin. The opalescent plexiglass emulates the soft glow of japanese shoji paper, allowing the user to see only the presence of the objects behind and play with depth and superpositions, on and around the basin.

Above: Bateau by Joschua Brunn - Bateau is a bath-accessory kit which translates the playful attitude of the new Axor Bouroullec collection into a toy. It’s a play-boat not only for children, it’s also a set of a sponge, a brush and a shampoo container for grown-ups.

Above: Swiss Soap by Max Neustadt - The Girolle is a typical Swiss tool for cutting the “Tête de moine”, a cheese made in the region of Bern. The consistence of soap allows to cut it just like this type of cheese. By turning the crank handle with a certain pressure, the machine creates a curl of soap that is just perfect for one single hand-washing-act.

Above: Squeeze Soaps by Rita Botelho - Inspired by the Axor Bouroullec’s collection springiness and limitless composition possibilities, Squeeze is an ergonomic soap that plays with the opposition between flexibility and rigidity, illusion and reality.

Above: Basin Basin by Charles Mathis – Basin Basin is a response to the fact that the Axor Bouroullec sink cannot be filled with water as in a normal sink. This object can be placed over the plug, filled with water, and be used as a washbowl, shaving bowl, or for any other purpose that the user may need a small body of water for.