Promotion: bathroom and kitchen brand Kohler‘s Anthem collection of shower valves and controls allows users to create personalised shower settings that can be controlled via a smartphone.
Kohler’s Anthem controls and valves were informed by high-end home furnishings and designed to have a “minimalist, sophisticated and warmly tactile vibe”, according to the brand.
The valves control showerheads, hand showers and body sprays
The controls were designed to be easy to use and are touch-sensitive. Users can choose between digital or mechanical control panels, which provide a range of combinations of spray and temperature options.
The valves control Kohler showerheads, hand showers and body sprays, which allow the user to personalise their showering experience.
“Each outlet can be independently adjusted to suit the user’s specific temperature and flow desires, such as a soft, warm spray from the overhead rain head along with strong, hot massage from the hand shower,” said the brand.”Users can mix and match to their heart’s content and then programme up to 10 favourite presets to revisit anytime. “
The controls are designed to be easy to use and are touch-sensitive
The digital Anthem controls are integrated with the Kohler app called Konnect, allowing users to control their experience via their smartphone.
Users can set default or max temperatures and monitor shower duration and water usage to prevent wastage.
Anthem Digital On/Off Wireless Remote comes in a Matte Black colour
“A really great shower is based highly on personal preference and should be completely within the control of the user,” said Kohler vice president of industrial design Lun Cheak Tan.
“We have developed the Anthem valves and controls to empower bathers with the ability to manipulate flow, temperature and sprays to achieve a personalised wellbeing experience.”
To view more of Kohler’s products, visit its website.
The Anthem mechanical controls were designed to have a “sophisticated look and feel” and come in Polished Chrome, Brushed Nickel, Matte Black and Brushed Moderne Brass.
Kohler was founded in Wisconsin, US, and has over 50 manufacturing locations worldwide. The brand specialises in bathroom and kitchen products.
“As homes become increasingly connected, Kohler is focused on making everyday moments better through thoughtful design and smart technology,” said the brand. “Kohler approaches smart bathroom design with the same dedication, precision, and care that has built the brand’s global presence for well over a century.”
To view more of Kohler’s products, visit its website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Kohler as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
If you look at most concept cars designed a quarter-century ago, they look dated, a product of their times. One exception is the Ford 021C, designed in 1999 by Marc Newson. Auto reseller L’art de L’automobile spotted it on display at this year’s Pebble Beach 17 Mile event:
It looks as if it could’ve been unveiled at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show. By concentrating purely on form and simplicity, Newson has created something pretty darn timeless.
As for what he was going for, here’s how Newson described the design in ’99:
“Ask children to draw a car, and they’ll draw something like this, so in many ways the 021C is a familiar and comfortable object…. It doesn’t use many typical automotive design cues, and while it does incorporate some interesting technology, it’s not technology used simply for the sake of it.”
The 021C name, by the way, was meant to stand for “21st Century.”
I think if Ford rolled this out as a low-cost EV today, they’d sell like crazy, particularly in Europe and Japan.
Catamarans consist of two hulls, and no deck between them. Instead, the two hulls are connected by netting known as a catamaran trampoline.
Trampolines are used for four reasons: They save weight; they cannot take on water; they’re strong enough to stand on; and they’re comfortable to sit on.
These indoor/outdoor Grand Ribaud chairs, designed by French interior architect Thomas Defour, were inspired by catamaran trampolines.
The netting is made of nylon, and the steel tubing is offered in chromed or powder-coated finishes.
Defour also designed a companion Ottoman.
The Grand Ribaud chair is in production by French design brand 13Desserts.
The electric toothbrush gets a makeover in Suri’s more sustainable, quieter, more stylish take on the electric toothbrush. Designed for the style- and sustainably-minded, the beautifully designed toothbrush festures an aluminum body and a recyclable head made from cornstarch. It’s repairable, if needed, meaning that you don’t have to toss an otherwise good product into a landfill littered with the millions of toothbrushes are tossed eery year. The optional storage / travel / UV-cleaning case is a no brainer, ensuring that your Suri is always ready to go and is as clean as possible when sharing with other family members. Available in four colors, each with or without the UV case.
The way we eat outside has been changing over the past years, and fine dining and fast food are no longer the only choices available. In many parts of the world, “fast-casual” has become a popular option that combines the speed and price of fast food establishments with the quality of full-service bistros. Despite being a category in its own right, the furniture used in fast-casual restaurants doesn’t actually take into account the specific needs of this class of customers and is instead meant for either fast-food chains or full-service establishments. This chair design concept tries to break the mold by introducing a piece of furniture that caters specifically to fast-casual customers who need to hang their coats or keep their bags but can never find such a place with regular restaurant chairs.
Designer: Zhiyuan (Frank) Fang
Fast-food restaurant chairs are often made from plastic, designed to be cheap, easy to move around, and often uninspiring. Customers here are often in a hurry, anyway, so they don’t care so much for the things they’re carrying, presuming they’re even carrying some. Fine dining chairs, in sharp contrast, are elegant and a little more expensive in order to match the restaurant’s ambiance. They, too, don’t have convenient features for keeping your things, because restaurants often have available storage for those near the table or by the entrance. That leaves fast-casual diners to fend for their own most of the time, often resulting in awkward displays of jackets or even forgotten bags or purses.
The RACK Chair design was conceptualized with fast-casual restaurants specifically in mind. While the chair might find some uses in other diner types as well, the aesthetics, materials, and features truly shine in this middle-ground of the catering industry. It’s made from a variety of wooden materials, including birch, pine, walnut, and ash, giving it a bit of style and fine character. At the same time, however, the minimalist design and flat-pack-friendly construction are ideal for mass production and use.
The real distinctive parts of the RACK chair are the integrated coat hanger on the backrest and the storage tray under the seat. While it’s certainly possible to drape coats, jackets, and other clothing over the back of most chairs, they also have a tendency to slip off, sometimes unbeknownst to the owner. The tray offers a secure space to put in purses, document folios, and small bags for each reach, while also blocking unauthorized access from behind.
Some might downplay the impact that these two simple features can bring, but knowing that there will always be a place for your jacket, coat, bags, and things adds tremendous peace of mind and convenience. That in turn, will surely make the experience and location memorable, increasing the likelihood that you’ll be a repeat customer. After all, the last thing you need is to stress over your stuff when all you really want is to enjoy an affordable and delicious meal.
The house of Louis XIII cognac traces its heritage and provenance back to the early 1700s in the Cognac region of France. Since then, the brand has meticulously cultivated and released some of the world’s most lauded cognacs. Recently, we joined the maison’s cellar master, Baptiste Loiseau, for the launch of their latest incredibly rare expression, Rare Cask 42.1. Drawn from one special cask, the liquid’s selection as a single limited release was 10 years in the making—and orchestrated by their youngest master blender to date. Loiseau, only 34 years old, sat down to tell us the story behind the world class elixir.
Courtesy of Louis XIII
What has been transpiring over the last 10 years?
I took the position as the cellar master almost 10 years ago, in 2014. For me, this is really the first time that I have the privilege to present something that is much more personal in its approach. The two first rare casks had been selected and revealed by the previous cellar master. And so for me, this is the very first time that I can present something that’s really so rare from the cellar. It is only coming from one cask, and it is showing facets that I’ve decided, guided by my intuition, to reveal.
Courtesy of Louis XIII
Some of the ideas behind it, and skills, are passed on from the previous cellar masters. How did you make this one distinctly yours? Because you’re going to have to pass this on to the next generation.
In fact, it’s a blend that has been done by a previous cellar master. My choice was really to reveal this and not to blend it with others. The audacity is really to detect the potential of aging and to be sure that at one point it has reached the perfect point of balance that needs to be highlighted on its own. it’s much more a choice guided by the emotion I had when I discovered the liquid inside. And I know that nobody will be able, even myself, to reproduce it. It’s really something that is coming from one cask and that’s it.
Courtesy of Louis XIII
Can you tell us a little about the cask and the environment that it’s been in for the last 10 years?
The rare casks, they are really the oldest casks that we have in our cellars and these are more than one century old and they are stored in different places. But for this one, it was really stored in a special cellar in a small village in a domain that is part of the family estate for the house. The link with the generations of cellar masters and also the generations of the family-owners of the house is really the footprint that we have encapsulated here.
Courtesy of Louis XIII
What makes this such a unique expression compared to some of the other ones released by the house?
It has some singularities that make it different from the others. The previous one was the rare cast 46.6, it was much more fruity in terms of density of the foods and with lots of aromas of autumn—the season when you have plum and stone fruit here in New York.
I really have been blown away by the fact that 42.1 is much more floral. You have lots of flower notes like dry rose and lilac. It really touched me because my childhood was spent with my grandfather, a horticulturist, growing flowers and vegetables. It reminded me of all the memories I had in the garden, which were much more driven by flowers than food. That’s the power of the tasting. When you taste something from one cask that takes you back to your hidden memories more than 30 years ago, you’ve found something that leads you to choose this.
Courtesy of Louis XIII
Can you tell us a little bit about the decanter and what makes it so unique?
We will celebrate the 150th anniversary next year. From the very beginning we decided to have the same shape for the decanter, that is historic to the maison, but from black crystal, which is much more difficult to achieve because the darkness is really difficult to obtain. For us, it’s really the footprint of time and also, a symbol of something that has been hidden in our cellars in the darkness.
What was something that you found surprising during this experience?
What we are facing now with climate change and the fact that the aromas we have in the fields, in the grapes, and in the wine, are with a different balance of sugar, acidity, et cetera. We are facing more challenges and now with my team, we are trying to find a solution for the next generation to keep it all consistent. We are all aligned in the fact that we have to find a solution to adapt to the conditions we’re facing. That’s the big challenge we are facing, but I’m really proud of what the team is doing and I’m sure that we’ll find a solution to adapt to these conditions.
Courtesy of Louis XIII
What are you thinking about the next 10 years?
We will go on with consistency and demanding the quality for the next generation. I have to law down a path because of all the grapes that I’m selecting now with my team, I won’t be the one who will make the final blend. The legacy will no only be a key in the making for the next 10 years, but decades and centuries.
Those interested in trying this rare expression can do so at NHYC’s Baccarat Hotel, The Faena in Miami, Delilah in Las Vegas and the Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles until the decanters reach their final pour.
Saudi Arabian mega project Neom has revealed its latest region, Epicon, a tourist destination on the Gulf of Aqaba that will feature two jagged skyscrapers.
Set to be built on the Gulf of Aqaba coast in northwestern Saudi Arabia, Epicon is the sixth of Neom’s planned 10 regions to be announced.
The Epicon resort will be built around two skyscrapers
It will comprise two jagged towers, one measuring 225 and the other 275 metres, which will contain 41 hotel and luxury residences.
The steel-clad skyscrapers are visualised as being interconnected by horizontal levels that hold an outdoor pool, among other spaces.
It will be located on the Gulf of Aqaba
The region will also be home to the Epison resort, which will have 120 rooms as well as 45 beach villas. Among the amenities on offer will be a beach club, spa and restaurants.
“Designed as a gateway to the future, Epicon provides an opportunity to escape the stresses of the everyday,” Neom said.
“Whether relaxing at the beach club, visiting the spa for bespoke wellness treatments, exploring the surrounding nature, participating in one of the many watersports on offer, or dining at destination restaurants for an unforgettable culinary experience, Epicon has been conceived to meet the full array of guest and resident needs.”
The resort will also have a library and a gym as well as pools, lounges and workspaces.
The development will also include the Epison resort
The unveiling of Epicon follows the announcement of Neom’s fifth region, Leyja, which will also house high-end boutique hotels and include designs designs by Shaun Killa, Mario Cucinella and Chris van Duijn.
The Neom project will contain 10 regions in total, including the controversial The Line project – a linear mega-city that will be 170 kilometres long. It will also include an octagon-shaped port city named Oxagon, the mirrored mega-city The Line and an island resort called Sindalah.
Over 40 luxury villas will also be built at the developent
However, the project has been criticised on human rights grounds, including by human rights organisation ALQST which reported that three men were sentenced to death after being “forcibly evicted” from the Neom site.
To clearly explore the topics of scarcity, Oshinowo aimed to make the event as accessible as possible by commissioning numerous, full-scale works of architecture.
“Only architects read text,” she told Dezeen. “There’s no project here that is pinned up drawings – we have quite a few installations, we do have some films, but we also have built projects and built projects that are about experience.”
“We wanted to very obviously include architecture and very obviously include architecture that is about experimentation,” she continued.
Read on for 12 key installations at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial:
Raw Threshold by Al Borde
The Raw Threshold canopy provides shelter and shade for the restaurant inside Al Qasimia School, one of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial’s main venues.
Ecuadorian architecture studio Al Borde created the structure from former telegraph poles, which have been removed and replaced with metal posts in much of Sharjah, as it wanted to use found materials and timber is not widely available in the UAE.
The concrete version of a tent aims to draw attention to the paradox of permanent temporariness.
Anthropocene Museum 9.0 – Sharjah’s Old Slaughter-house Tour by Cave Bureau
Kenyan studio Cave Bureau has converted a still-functioning slaughterhouse into the ninth edition of its Anthropocene Museum.
Visitors to the museum travel the route that animals take – first entering the pens then travelling up a ramp into the slaughterhouse and processing rooms.
Inflated sheep skins designed by Adrian Pepe and hung from the meat hooks are among the series of exhibits in the museum.
“We have welcomed artists and creatives to be in the museum, so you will be walking through a working slaughterhouse but also a museum,” Cave Bureau co-founder Kabage Karanja told Dezeen. “It highlights consumerism. We are products of consumerism.”
Jabal: 9 Ash Cleansing Temple by Yussef Agbo-Ola
Occupying one of the school’s classrooms is a fabric, tent-like temple that is intended as a space of sanctuary.
Designed by architect Yussef Agbo-Ola of London environmental design practice Olaniyi Studio, the structure is made from jute, hemp and cotton yarns knitted into a fabric. Including these fabrics in the temple aims to reflect the impact of climate change on Sharjah’s biodiversity.
Earth to Earth by Sumaya Dabbagh
Designed “to draw attention to the collective memory of earth”, this curved pavilion by architect Sumaya Dabbagh sits alongside the Sharjah Architecture Triennial’s school venue and is made from mud bricks baked in the sun.
“The region is quite young, but in recent memory there was connection with the land and in a short time this was lost,” explained Dabbagh.
“The pavilion emphasises the relationship we have with the land – and we need to reconnect to that,” she continued.
The Museum of Artifice by Miriam Hillawi Abraham
Multi-disciplinary designer Miriam Hillawi Abraham has created a church-like facade from Himalayan salt blocks and set it within a former vegetable market, which is one of the main venues for the Sharjah Architecture Triennial.
Positioned in front of one of the former shops, the facade is designed to resemble the rock-hewn Lalibela churches in northern Ethiopia.
Óré ì Sé Àgbon by Bubu Ogisi
In one of the former market’s halls, Lagos-based fibre artist and fashion designer Bubu Ogisi has contributed an immersive installation that aims to make visitors consider spirituality.
The space is enclosed by fringed textile panels and video installations, while a fibre-covered enclosure at the centre is designed as a space for a guardian spirit. A cinnamon floor releases the smell of the fragrant bark as visitors walk through.
“Walking through the landscape, the viewer’s body becomes a spiritual landscape – an energy field, designed, constantly reworked and reactivated,” said the designer.
The Ship of Theseus by Tom Egoumenides
French designer Tom Egoumenides aimed to challenge traditional design practices by creating an installation from discarded thread spools and threaded rods.
Named The Ship of Theseus, the installation in the market’s main hall forms a maze-like structure with tables and seats that visitors can walk through.
Super Limbo by Limbo Accra
In the abandoned Sharjah Mall, which is one of the UAE’s largest unfinished buildings, Ghanaian studio Limbo Accra has created architectural forms from standard untreated calico cotton.
Informed by the fabric that surrounds many buildings under construction, the installations aim to draw attention to the mall’s state of limbo.
Photo by Tom Ravenscroft
Play You Are in Sharjah by 51-1 Arquitectos
Alongside the curved former market, Peruvian studio 51-1 Arquitectos has installed four giant flags that spell the word “play” along with tables for playing board games.
Each of the tables is sheltered by a moveable canopy to encourage people to spend time in the area, which was a bustling space before the market closed.
“We wanted to activate this entirely dead space,” studio co-founder Manuel de Rivero told Dezeen. “We tried to laminate the space that, for many, is the entrance to Sharjah.”
Time Transitions by Rúina Architecture
Also located outside the market is a fabric-covered viewing tower designed by Brazilian studio Rúina Architecture. It aims to restore the view between the building and the waterfront, which was lost when a new market was built on reclaimed land.
Informed by local cooling towers used to naturally ventilate buildings, it is also a comment on the fact that the passively cooled market was replaced with an air-conditioned one.
Tashkent Appropriating Modernism by Wael Al-Awar
Architect Wael Al-Awar created a series of half-scale, sectional models of a trio of Tashkent’s modernist buildings, which are squeezed into one of the school’s classrooms.
The exhibition draws attention to the extensive remodelling of each of these buildings and questions plans to restore them to their original states.
Eta’Dan by Hive Earth
Also on the ground of the school, Ghanaian studio Hive Earth has contributed a rammed earth pavilion named Eta’Dan, which translates as mud wall in Fante.
The pavilion, which is designed to be sat or climbed on, is constructed from earth found sourced from across the UAE to give it a coloured stratification.
The photography is by Edmund Sumner unless otherwise stated.
Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023 takes place from 11 November 2023 to 10 March 2024 at various locations across Sharjah. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Austrian studio PSLA Architekten has created a contemporary townhouse in Vienna‘s historic seventh district as a “hybrid genesis between house and garden”.
Situated alongside a narrow courtyard, the home by PSLA Architekten is defined by it’s multi-level interiors and cascading terraces that aim to reinterpret urban gardens.
The monolithic structure features cascading terraces
The 165-square-metre home contains live and work spaces for a young family across 11 levels that are reflected on the facade by its staggered windows.
Staggered rooftop terraces connect to a ground floor garden and courtyard via a series of external steel staircases creating a sense of continuity around the house.
A steel staircase provides access between floors
A permeable brick-paved courtyard featuring infiltration trenches runs along the building’s length and is lined with trees and planters to operate as a small urban oasis.
Fixed openings on the south-facing facade provide daylight access and views over the courtyard, while operable windows and doors are implemented on the eastern facades.
The home has 11 levels
“The main concept of the project was to find strategies to deal with urban land as a vanishing, limited, quantitative resource which needs to be efficiently re-used through qualitative densification,” said Ali Seghatoleslami co-director of PSLA Architekten.
“The project suggests a fundamental re-configuration of the architectural typology of a house” he told Dezeen.
A hybrid construction method employed for the project uses hollow-core bricks and reinforced concrete slabs of minimal thicknesses to maximise the building’s usable space.
On the facade, large windows sit flush with the pink-hued plaster finish, while internal brick walls were finished with a moisture-regulating plaster complemented by exposed reinforced concrete.
A steel staircase connects the roof terraces at each level
A workspace, entrance, kitchen and dining space make up the ground floor, while a central steel staircase leads to living spaces and bedrooms on the upper floors.
Light-filled interiors were characterised by textured concrete, white walls and wooden flooring.
A brick-paved courtyard runs alongside the building front
Retention roofs and densely planted terraces reduce the building’s carbon footprint as well as enable a passive cooling method for the house and surrounding courtyard.
PSLA Architekten is a Vienna-based studio directed by Seghatoleslami and Lilli Pschill.
If you have several devices that you want to charge at the same time, your desk can look like a tangle of wires and other charging paraphernalia. I am not the neatest person when it comes to my desk so that’s not such an uncommon or uncomfortable situation for me. But for those who are a bit concerned with how their work area will look, wireless charging is probably the best solution to avoid such clutter. If you have several devices though, you might also need several wireless charging pads, unless you get one that can charge multiple gadgets at once.
Designer: Courant
For Mac users, Courant is an accessory maker that they constantly look to (if they can afford premium devices though). The MAG:3 is their latest MagSafe wireless charging device and this time it looks like a minimalist valet tray for your iPhone, AirPods, and other small items that you can place there to make your side table or desk more organized. It is available in both leather and linen finishes and in several colors for each so you can choose which one best fits your current work or home aesthetic.
The tray is made up of a 7.5W output wireless charger pad for your iPhone, a 5W, non-magnetic Qi wireless charger pad for other compatible devices like Airpods, and a 10W USB-C output at the back part to power other devices like your Apple Watch or another USB-C compatible device. There is also space for things like your wallet, watch, keys, eyeglasses, and other small things that you may need to place beside your devices so you won’t forget any of them before you leave your house or your office.
The carbon-neutral Belgian Linen finish is available in camel, charcoal, and natural colors while the gold-rated Italian Leather finish has the saddle or black color options. It is now available to pre-order on the Courant website but since Black Friday deals are almost upon us, you get a discounted deal for a limited period in case you want to save a few dollars.
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