Kohler Celebrates Clerkenwell Design Week & Chelsea Flower Show 2018 With New Floral Sink Collection
Sometimes there are interior and home products that I see that make me elated and go "YES! That is RIGHT UP MY STREET!!" A visit to the the Kohler Experience Centre today on my tour of Clerkenwell Design Week 2018 made me do just that. In the week where London celebrates the best of horticulture with the Chelsea Flower Show, alongside the best in architecture and design with CDW, it was the perfect time for Kohler to unveil in the UK their new collection of Dutchmaster sinks. Big, bold, dramatic florals on a dark and moody background cover the entire surface of the washbasins, with two separate designs that come as a circular or rectangular model.
Top: Midnight Floral Dutchmaster, bottom: Blush Floral Dutchmaster, both Kohler for West One Bathrooms. Image credit: Kohler for West One Bathrooms
Reminding me of the beloved Ellie Cashman wallpaper that I have lusted after for years (but could never afford!) Dutchmaster is named after the painterly style that inspired the sinks pattern. 'Blush Floral', my personal favourite out of the two designs available, features popular English country garden flowers such as Peonies, Dahlias, Ranunculus and hydrangeas with a Painted Lady butterfly delicately perched on a stem.
Image credit: Kohler for West One Bathrooms
'Midnight Floral' has purple hues and is decorated with Helleborus, Fritillaries, Ranunculus and sweet-peas, topped with a blue butterfly. You can see both designs in an exclusive, fantastic display in the Kohler for West One Bathrooms showroom in Clerkenwell where they are mounted upon a huge bed of faux flowers, celebrating the design itself as part of Clerkenwell Design Week, as well as a nod to Chelsea the other side of the city.
The Dutchmaster vessel basin is part of a year long design theme for Kohler where they are exploring and celebrating the spectrum of modernist, from minimalism to maximalism (simple and clean to complex and dramatic). Of course Dutchmaster falls into the maximalist category, which is why I love it so. When using such key statement pieces in your home, keep that piece the focus by making sure everything else a lot more simple. I would host a Dutchmaster basin on a contrasting coloured countertop, so the dark really stood out and it did not blend into what it was being hosted on. I would also pick one or two of the colourways found in the Dutchmaster to use on the walls. For 'Blush Floral' I would use a soft sage or a pale pink which can be found in the flowers, as per the mood board below.
'Blush Floral' Dutchmaster sink and Purist Wall Mount Bridge Tap, both Kohler for West One Bathrooms.
So while the huge floral display and Dutchmaster sinks lured me into Kohler at West One Bathrooms on the Clerkenwell Design Week trail, there were plenty other new product launches inside that had me lusting after more/bigger bathrooms at home so I could fill them with delights such as....the Ombre tap!! Yep that's right, we all know the struggle between choosing gold/rose gold/copper/chrome is real, so how about an ombre-effect that goes from rose gold to polished nickel, or rose gold to titanium (or vice-versa - Kohler can do both!)
Ombre has been huge in interiors from dinnerware to wallpaper, but to have it on taps is genius. The Ombre Finish range is part of a new 'Components' collection and has only been viewed at Milan Design week before. Ombre Finish is being officially launched at the end of the year, so make sure you visit the Kohler Experience Centre this week as part of CDW to see the design on display in the showroom.
However, if you love the look of the new Components collection then it is available now to purchase in chrome, and if you wait a little while longer it will also be available in very on-trend and sleek black. Minimal but chic, Components is very industrial in style with cog-like hot and cold levers.
Top & bottom image credit: Kohler for West One Bathrooms
My preference within the Components collection were the tap levers that resembled the sort of knobs you'd find on guitar amps and other musical equipment. I found it a very masculine range, one that would ooze 'cool' within a contemporary kitchen or bathroom.
Top image credit: Kohler for West One Bathrooms
What I find makes Kohler so special is that all the products are just 'that bit different'. Take the new 'Veil Lighted Suite' basin below as an example - it is a beautiful clean, white, no-frills basin, yet the shape with one side slightly arching over the other, and the base rim lit up with soft lighting, just sets it apart from a classic white sink.
The Veil Lighted Suite is made up of a sink, cabinet, base unit, mirror, wall-hung toilet and bath which all feature rimmed lighting that comes on with a single touch. Choose from ambient lighting to warm or cool shades to match your mood.
Veil Lighted Suite is not available for purchase until the end of the year, although you can purchase this design now with no lighting (but why would you want to do that when you can get LIGHTS!)
The Dutchmaster, Components and Veil Lighted Suite ranges are all exclusive to Kohler for West One Bathrooms and are on display in the showroom, 44-48 Clerkenwell Road, London, all week as part of Clerkenwell Design Week. As well the new ranges, Kohler has a focus on sustainability this CDW and is looking at the every day waste from its product manufacturing streams and turning it into something beautiful as part of its WasteLab initiative. Visitors to the showroom from the 24th May can see early prototypes from this project – a line of ceramic tiles for Kohler’s Ann Sacks brand which use pottery cull, iron slag and leftover glazes.
If you are not able to visit Kohler during Clerkenwell Design Week, then be sure to get a heavy dose of kitchen and bathroom inspiration from its Instagram and Pinterest pages. Theme and trend-led, Kohler is currently looking at 'moody kitchen design' on Insta.
* This post is a paid collaboration with Kohler as part of raising awareness for CDW. However, as usual all thoughts, opinions and a deep love of floral sinks are my own.
