Devon&Devon showcases designs by Gensler and Massimo Iosa Ghini at VDF products fair

Devon&Devon is presenting three collections at the VDF products fair that revive art deco for modern bathroom spaces, including a duo of modular bathtubs created with architecture firm Gensler.

The Italian design brand is also sharing the Double Kalos basin, designed by Massimo Iosa Ghini, and the Scottie vanity unit, which pays homage to F. Scott Fitzgerald and is named after his only daughter.

All three releases are currently being exhibited as part of the VDF products fair, which offers designers and brands an affordable platform to launch new products.

Although the Holiday modular bathtub features the same basin as the Dove, it is also topped off with a curved rim

Called Dove and Holiday, the modular baths developed in collaboration with Gensler feature the same oval tub, which can be modified with three exchangeable components.

A plinth or minimalist clawfeet can be added to the bottom of each design, while with the Holiday variation a curved rim is also added on top.

Earlier this month, Gensler's product design director Daniel Stromborg and Devon&Devon general manager Nicola Bertini delved deeper into the story behind the collection in a live interview as part of the Virtual Design Festival and explored Gensler's growing body of work as a product design studio as well as an architecture firm.

Double Kalos by Massimo Iosa Ghini consists of two basins united by an overarching mirror

Iosa Ghini's Double Kalos, which is also being presented at the VDF products fair, is an evolution of an earlier design the architect created for Devon&Devon and consists of two separate basins united by a large mirror.

The basins are each nestled into a freestanding column that was designed to resemble a constellation of petals funnelling dew into the heart of a flower.

Finally, Scottie makes the opulence of the roaring twenties palatable for the modern bathroom environment by offsetting richly coloured marble, lacquered wood and brass hardware against a simplified silhouette.

With an integrated basin, tap, mixer and mirror, the design lends itself even to smaller spaces that would usually struggle to accommodate a vanity.

The Scottie vanity is named after the daughter of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald

Also on show at the VDF products fair are three launches from Shanghai brand Stellar Works and four of Vitra's latest releases, created in collaboration with the Bouroullec brothers, Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic.

About VDF products fair: the VDF products fair offers an affordable launchpad for new products during Virtual Design Festival. For more details email vdf@dezeen.com

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Double Kalos basin by Massimo Iosa Ghini for Devon&Devon

VDF products fair: Italian architect and designer Massimo Iosa Ghini has expanded on the single Kalos basins he created for Devon&Devon by cleverly duplicating and merging the design into a couple's set-up, called Double Kalos.

Two of the original basins, which sit within a funnel-shaped column, are simply placed next to each other while the original round mirror is substituted by one large, overarching one that is shaped like a Venn diagram of two overlapping circles.

According to Iosa Ghini, this makes Double Kalos a "particularly effective example of how to translate functionality into beauty."

The distinctive body of the basins is designed to resemble the petal formation of a flower, which is tapered to draw dew into its centre.

In Double Kalos, this shape is rendered in White Tec, a composite material designed and produced for Devon&Devon to guarantee impact resistance and durability while keeping to strict sustainability standards.

The mirror can be backlit with a ring of LEDs to emphasise its dramatic shape and offset it against the backdrop.

Product: Double Kalos
Designer: Massimo Iosa Ghini
Brand: Devon&Devon
Contact address: info@devon-devon.com

About VDF products fair: the VDF products fair offers an affordable launchpad for new products during Virtual Design Festival. For more details email vdf@dezeen.com.

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Scottie vanity unit by Devon&Devon

VDF products fair: brass hardware and a marble countertop inject Gatsby-esque grandeur into the Scottie vanity unit by Devon&Devon, which is named after the only daughter of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The design is a contemporary take on classic Art Deco style, formed of stacked geometries from the oblong, lacquered wooden cabinet to the round basin with its semi-circular backsplash and the oval, wall-mounted mirror.

This is accentuated by generous marble surfaces, rendered variously in clean, white Bianco Carrara, creamy Calacatta Oro or black Nero Marquinha.

Similarly, the glossy wood cabinet can be cast in neutral shades like white, grey, black or cream as well as in dusky pink, while a special, matte edition is finished with a woven twill pattern.

Brass features liberally throughout the design, from its long, slender legs and the semi-circular drawer handles to the tap and mixers as well as the two long, rectangular bars that frame the mirror.

The mirror, which is also available separately, is embossed with a simple circle to match the colour of the cabinetry.

Scottie is the compact, bathroom-friendly version of Devon&Devon's Zelda vanity table, which is named after Fitzgerald's wife and lends itself more to larger dressing or powder rooms.

Product: Scottie
Brand: Devon&Devon
Contact address: info@devon-devon.com

About VDF products fair: the VDF products fair offers an affordable launchpad for new products during Virtual Design Festival. For more details email vdf@dezeen.com.

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Holiday and Dove modular bathtubs by Gensler for Devon&Devon

VDF products fair: Italian brand Devon&Devon has collaborated with architecture and design firm Gensler to create two modular bathtubs called Holiday and Dove, which take cues from the art deco movement.

Both designs feature the same, elongated oval tub, which subtly flares out towards the rim.

This can be customised through three exchangeable components – a plinth, curved rim and simplified clawfeet.

"The collection was inspired by Streamline Moderne, pulling from it the decidedly American twist on this art deco movement,” explained Gensler's product design director Daniel Stromborg.

"We retained the memory of it – reinterpreting simple shapes, refined materials and subtle details – while consciously moving towards meeting the requirements of contemporary interior design. The modular nature of the collection is oriented towards offering customisable solutions in shape and material."

A wide, rounded rim is what distinguishes the two designs and features only in the Holiday (pictured top) while the Dove is sleek and rimless.

Thanks to the wide surface provided by the rim, taps and mixers can be mounted directly into the top of the Holiday via five optional holes.

To prop up the tub, both designs can have a plinth added to the bottom, which is rendered either smooth or moulded, in classic white or covered in Calacatta Oro marble.

This can also be swapped out for four chubby feet, offering a playful take on the traditional clawfoot variety.

The tub itself is made from White Tec Plus, a material blend developed especially for Devon&Devon.

"White Tec Plus is not only aesthetically appealing and extraordinarily velvety to the touch, but it is also certified Greenguard Gold, durable, recyclable, 100 per cent restorable, non-toxic and non-allergenic," said Graziano Verdi, CEO of Devon&Devon and the Italcer Group.

"Our entire group is making considerable investments into the research and development of eco-sustainable raw materials and processes."

Product: Holiday and Dove
Designer: Gensler
Brand: Devon&Devon
Contact address: info@devon-devon.com

About VDF products fair: the VDF products fair offers an affordable launchpad for new products during Virtual Design Festival. For more details email vdf@dezeen.com.

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Alfondac is a multifunctional guest apartment in Catalonia with modular fittings

A modular unit encompasses all the domestic functions of this Catalonian guest apartment by architecture studio Aixopluc, leaving the rest of the floor plan empty for inhabitants to use as they wish.

Aixopluc's Alfondac guest apartment is situated in the Catalonian city of Reus in the Raval de Santa Anna neighbourhood.

The 55-square-metre space takes over a former photographer's studio that's in the same building as Aixopluc's workshop. When the photographer retired, the studio sat vacant for two years with its interiors gradually deteriorating.

"We decided to repair the place hoping someone might be interested in renting it," explained the practice. "It was not clear whether it would be more successful as an apartment or an office – so we decided to do more than both."

The practice decided to trial its modular domestic furnishing system called Homeful, which is designed to be quickly and cheaply incorporated into abandoned buildings so that they can become habitable again.

The system comprises three elements: storage cupboards, a small house-shaped volume that accommodates a bed and a series of panels – which the practice refers to as "enclosures" – that can be used to form walls, floors, ceilings and doors.

These can be easily assembled or dismantled by hand using standard DIY tools.

The system is ideally meant to be compactly built into the smallest corner of any given space, leaving a majority of the floorplan free for inhabitants to use as they wish and "welcome unpredicted life".

In the case of Alfondac, Aixopluc hopes that young professionals who stay there will use the open space as a workspace.

"By concentrating the efforts in a high-dense disposition, the services and material costs will be minimised, and the space available for the inhabitants to transform as they see fit is maximised," explained the practice.

By amalgamating different functions into one unit, the practice also thinks that the Homeful system offers a way to create "unexpected relations" between living spaces that are traditionally separated in the home.

"This iteration is an exploration of the potential benefits of having different activities and their smells – shit, lavender soap, pee, escudella, incense, linen sheets after sex, hyacinth flowers, baby’s poo and half-full glasses of Priorat wines – coexist rather than being segregated," the practice added.

The system has been integrated on the rear wall of the Alfondac apartment. Panels have been arranged to form a toilet and shower, while a series of cupboards have been fitted to give inhabitants a place to store their personal belongings or food supplies.

A majority of surfaces are perforated with holes where pegs can be slotted in to hang utensils.

Wet areas like the sink, kitchen prep counters and base of the shower cubicle have been topped with slabs of green-flecked terrazzo from tile brand Huguet. They're each made from recycled glass and marble aggregate mixed with "green label" cement, which is meant to emit 35 per cent less carbon than standard cement.

The gabled unit of the Homeful system that contains the bed has been placed towards the front of the space.

Very few changes were made to the structural shell of the Alfondac apartment. Apart from replacing the window frames, Aixopluc simply reinforced the ceiling beams and added insulation to some existing walls to minimise the need for heating.

Even the patterned-tile floor of the apartment – which is unusually 20 centimetres higher on one side of the plan than the other – has been left in its found state.

Aixopluc, which takes its name from the Catalonian word for "shelter", was founded by architect David Tapias. It will continue to use Alfondac as a space to showcase its latest living systems but intends it to be the first of a chain of one-room hostels.

It isn't the only practice to create a guest property that offers more than just a place to rest your head. Earlier this year, Raul Sanchez Architects used corten steel to create a guesthome-cum-art gallery in the Spanish village of La Pobla de Cérvoles.

Photography is by José Hevia.

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Project credits:

Architect: David Tapias
Collaborator: Ricard Pau
Carpenters: Rels i Timberlab
Cooking and washing tops: Huguet

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