Designer: Marcel Wanders for Boffi, 2000.
For those who want sleek minimalism in their bathroom, this is the ultimate fitting. Made for Italian family firm Boffi, whose kitchens and bathrooms are the brand of choice for top-end properties (estate agents always add a few extra noughts when they spot them), it is the brainchild of Dutch wunderkind Marcel Wanders, a man with more than a touch of rock ’n’ roll about him.
Wanders was part ofthe highly influential Dutch collective Droog (think Knotted Chair)and his work extends into all areas of design, including the decorative Mondrian South Beach hotel in Miami. But this fixture shows his pared-back side. The Pipe is sleek, masculine, industrial and expensive and comes with the optional touch of the playful red handle.
The technical blurb to accompany it – penned by Wanders himself – describes the Pipe as: ‘...not a shower. It is a waterfall, it is a thick stream of cleansing water’. He’s not wrong.Be prepared for an utter drenching. But surely that’s a tiny price to pay for having a classic piece of modern design in your bathroom.