New York, NY – Duravit, a leading manufacturer of innovative bathroom furnishings, has launched PuraVida, a complete bathroom suite designed in collaboration with Phoenix Design and fittings manufacturer Hansgrohe. PuraVida brings poetic purity and clarity of form to the bathroom, fusing minimalism and elegance to create a sleek, yet gentle, flowing and graceful look. The collection is Duravit’s second collaboration with Phoenix Design.
“Everything about this range is completely subtle, nothing is excessive, nothing is pretentious,” said Tom Schönherr of Phoenix Design. In designing PuraVida, Schönherr and partner Andreas Haug sought to modify pure geometry in order to create a sense of gentle movement. To that they added emotion, based on Schönherr’s sense that, “In the future, there will be a need for a new form, for new emotion. Everything will become more joyful and more lively.”
By using the strength of emotion as the platform for their design, Schönherr and Haug created an entirely new, boundless and feminine look for the bathroom. Overall, the design process became a search for a natural form – one that was soft, pure and embodied sleek timelessness. The purity behind PuraVida is exemplified through a symbiotic relationship between the ceramics and fittings, which are meant to look “as if they had grown naturally like a tree from the earth,” according to Schönherr.To highlight this notion of growth, the designers implemented color into the fittings, which are as pure and white as the ceramic itself. The soft exterior and gently formed interior of the PuraVida washbasin create a sense of spacious elegance. The interior of the basin is flat and gently bevelled, creating a delicate “wave,” while its overall shape is exceptionally soft, creating a sense of effortless motion. Each of the PuraVida designs seems to float, enhancing the collection’s ethereal qualities.
The wall-mounted furniture highlights this floating effect: consoles, vanity units and tall cabinets in three dimensions are gently rounded and feature a glossy white finish. The emotional movement occurs on the furniture’s surface, which is available in a choice of deep red or classy black paired with high-gloss white, ebony or aluminium. Curved handle “grooves” in place of physical handles enhance the weightless character of the range.
In terms of functionality, it is possible to open both the upper and the lower portions of the furniture pieces using the grooves. Inside the furniture, sophisticated details provide a helping hand with everyday life. As an option, the vanity unit features elegant glass dividers, while the tall cabinet includes a practical integrated drawer for storage. A matching mobile storage unit completes the range.
The mirror echoes the floating character of the furniture. Its back wall is not just rounded at the corners, but also tapers so that only a small portion of the edge is visible from any angle. Similarly, the mirrored cabinet is three-dimensional in form. Its double-sided mirrored doors and decorative back wall merge to create a sense of space. On the outside, a flush-mounted light, which is easy to clean, ensures optimum illumination.In the PuraVida collection, light serves as a crucial design element for the built-in bathub. Also available in a freestanding version, the tub features a rim that opens to create a joint through which a white LED light gently shimmers. Alternatively, depending on the choice of furniture color, a deep red, refined black, ebony or aluminum peeks through the skilfully-crafted space. This collection of carefully-planned details is also an expression Phoenix Design’s notion of contemporary luxury. All in all, this wide range of ceramics, furniture and bathtubs successfully evokes just that: soft, flowing, timelessly modern elegance.
