NEW YORK CITY — At the World Architecture Festival in Miami, Grohe Spa—the luxury sub-brand of Grohe, itself part of building materials company LIXIL—announced a new partnership with Buster + Punch for an integrated bathroom concept. Envisioned as a "creative’s toolkit,” the collection aims to help architects and designers create “harmonious interiors” with coherence in fit, feel and finish.
The collaboration debut includes three of Grohe Spa’s finishes–Brushed Warm Sunset, Brushed Cool Sunrise and Matte Black–mirrored across Buster + Punch’s cabinet and door hardware, lighting, sockets and switches.
At the collection’s New York City debut, Karl Lennon, leader of Grohe Spa - Lixil International at LIXIL, said the partnership developed through an “organic discussion” between Paul Flowers—leader, Lixil Global Design & brand identity, chief design and brand officer and executive vice president—and Massimo Buster Minale, founder and creative director, Buster + Punch.
“Obviously, there's a complementary nature to the products we make—bathroom products, predominantly—[and] they make cabinetry hardware, door handles, light fixtures, switches, sockets. And really, they just work together in a space very well. So that was the idea,” Lennon said.
Flowers and Minale “shared a number of ideas,” Lennon continued, and could see the “synergies” between what the two companies make, as well as in their finishes. Shared design cues—like both brands’ signature knurling—aim to maintain a consistent look across elements and heighten their tactility. The new line uses physical vapor deposition in the coloring process for the fixtures, which Lennon said is the “highest performing” process that can be done with metals.
“Architects and interior designers have this huge struggle with coordinating finishes and materials,” Lennon noted. “So it was all about trying to find the right way to do that with the [collaboration].”
Lixil has agreements with most major hotel companies, Lennon continued, so the company’s products are familiar to most brand leaders. The fixtures are especially useful in upscale and luxury hotels, he added, as the finishes can last as long as a decade.