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Watt is a brand-new range of single-lever and thermostatic shower valves for built-in showers, inspired by the world of lighting. The architecture firm Q-Bic has designed the new Watt collection for Rubinetterie Treemme.

Keen to create a collection of cutting-edge shower thermostats with a truly innovative design, Rubinetterie Treemme says the Q-Bic architecture firm in Florence offered just what the company was looking for, creating a unique, unprecedented collection.

Rubinetterie Treemme WATT

“The world of electricity was part of my family background, which re-emerged while I was designing this new collection”, explains Q-Bic’s Marco Baldini. “This prompted me to give the range a vintage look reminiscent of the old-style electrical plates, obviously with a totally modern, designer slant. So then the name Watt came naturally”.

The signature feature of the Watt range is the levers that turn the water on and off, adjusting the flow; these hallmark elements resemble light switches, while the temperature is adjusted with a round knob.

The collection is fashioned entirely in brass and comes in a choice of several different finishes.

Watt is the result of an impressive style and design effort, in which the creative skill of Q-Bic joined forces with the manufacturing expertise of Rubinetterie Treemme.

Watt has also just won the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2021, one of the most prestigious accolades in the sector.

Rubinetterie Treemme

Scotland’s very first YOTEL, centrally located in Edinburgh’s bustling Queen Street, perfectly combines contemporary modern interiors with the classic design of the city’s famous Old Town architecture. Its playful ‘cabin’ style rooms feature bathrooms using a bespoke solution and innovative solid surface material Surfex® exclusively from Roca.  

YOTEL Edinburgh is the brand’s first city centre opening in Europe. Its premium location is perfectly placed, allowing guests to experience all of the city’s historic charms and top attractions within walking distance of the hotel. The sleek and modern interior is testament to the ethos of the brand; creating an innovative, smart hotel for tech-savvy travellers.

The hotel has 276 compact cabin rooms, inspired by the feeling first class travel provides in terms of luxury and comfort. Each room is equipped with YOTEL’s signature features including luxury bedding, relaxing mood lighting and Smart TVs. This helps to enhance the smart experience YOTEL is renowned for and evokes contemporary style and convenience. The rooms are designed to have a modern feel, and its minimalist white interior highlights the brand’s close attention to detail.

Roca Yotel bathroom

During the launch phase, YOTEL Edinburgh General Manager Stuart Douglas, said, “The main purpose of the cabin rooms at YOTEL is to provide guests with functionality, practicality and above all, high quality. The uncompromising design of the rooms and bathrooms ensures guests have the essential elements of luxury hotels but redesigned into a compact, smart space.”

Working closely alongside YOTEL at the design stage of the project, Roca created a bathroom solution that closely aligned with the brand standards. This included the Gap wall-hung WC and a bespoke vanity unit, in addition to bespoke washroom countertops for the public areas of the hotel.

Manufactured in Poland, the bespoke units were made using Roca’s innovative Surfex®, a malleable solid surface material formulated from a combination of minerals and resins. The unique properties of Surfex allow it to be poured into a production mould, enabling complex designs with no joints or seams. The materials properties also permit ‘on-site’ changes to the finished product, catering to different guestroom sizes and configurations. At YOTEL Edinburgh the advantages of Surfex were harnessed to create a wash basin bowl with an integrated unit that maximises countertop space, providing ample storage space for toiletries and grooming products.

The addition of The Gap wall-hung WC further complemented the design aesthetic. Created by renowned industrial designer Antonio Bullo, The Gap features modern and stylish lines whilst delivering both a compact and functional bathroom solution.

“We worked in close partnership with the YOTEL team to deliver a bespoke solution that fitted their requirements and those of their guests,” comments Jon Bond, Head of UK Projects at Roca. “The end result is a bathroom that seamlessly integrates the modern feel of the cabin rooms, with the contemporary ethos of the YOTEL brand.” 

GROHE UK has launched an Energy for Life campaign and shower cashback promotion, allowing customers to claim £50 cashback when they purchase any eligible GROHE shower system from a participating retailer.

The cashback offer is available across a wide range of the brand’s most popular and innovative shower systems, including its award-winning SmartControl range and Grohtherm thermostatic systems.

Available in a number of different designs and configurations including concealed systems, exposed wall-mounted systems and even options that operate both bath and shower, the varied selection of models on offer ensures there is a suitable shower system for every project. Many of the eligible systems also feature GROHE’s innovative SmartControl push-and-turn technology, a unique approach to intuitive showering, which allows the user to select their chosen water outlet or spray with the simple push of a button before then turning to adjust the water volume.

“We are delighted to be bringing back our showers cashback promotion for its 4th consecutive year”, says Ebru Bircan, Leader Marketing Activation, LIXIL EMENA responsible for heading up the Marketing Activation of the GROHE brand in the UK. “The initiative is always met with both great receptiveness from our retail partners and uptake by consumers and we hope that this year, at such a crucial time as the retail economy is reopening, that we can reach new heights of success”.

To drive awareness of the promotion and pledge additional support to its retail partners, GROHE UK is investing
in the promotion of the campaign, working with audio streaming platform, Spotify, to reach new audiences.

The promotion runs from 1st May 2021 until 31st July 2021 with all cashback claims to be made by 31st August 2021.
For more information and to read the full terms and conditions of the promotion, visit www.groherewards.co.uk

More news from GROHE

Virtual Worlds has announced it is a a finalist in the Kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2021, in the one-off Lockdown Support Special Award category

Focusing on how suppliers have looked after their retailer networks during the lockdowns, the category was the perfect fit for Virtual Worlds, which has supported its network of retailers in a number of ways since the beginning of the pandemic.

An important part of this was a lead-generation campaign helping retailers to capitalise on the reported increase in number of homeowners looking to improve their kitchen or bathroom during and post-lockdown. A nationwide social media campaign drove leads directly to retailer showrooms in an expansion of the company’s £100k ‘Making your home perfect’ consumer marketing drive.

Consideration was also given to some of the specific benefits of Virtual Worlds products and how they could help during the pandemic, particularly with more people working from home. As lockdown hit, Design Cloud and Pro Suite licences were issued free of charge, enabling retailers to conduct remote sales presentations of 3D interactive designs. Full technical support also remained available, with the Virtual Worlds team of product trainers and IT professionals available throughout for any remote one-to-one training sessions and to handle any technical customer queries.

Finally, with one of the biggest obstacles for retailers during the pandemic being cash flow, the Virtual Worlds COVID-19 care programme saw over £140,000 worth of financial support being given, via payment breaks for its retailers.

“2020 was a year in which the KBB industry had to pull together like never before and we were pleased to be able to support retailers to get through what was an extremely challenging time,” comments Virtual Worlds Managing Director Nathan Maclean. “To be a finalist in the Kbbreview Retail & Design Awards is all the more special because it follows such a difficult period.”

For more information on Virtual Worlds, please visit www.virtualworlds.co.uk

European bathroom manufacturer, Geberit, has this week unveiled a brand-new partnership with Rio Olympic silver medallist, Victoria Thornley.

Thornley steps into the spotlight as Geberit ambassador for the AquaClean shower toilet and will feature in related materials moving forward, including a national advertising campaign.

The ambassadorship announcement follows the latest silver medal success for Victoria Thornley at April’s European Rowing Championships, as she counts down the weeks until Tokyo 2021.

Sophie Weston, channel marketing manager at Geberit UK, said: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with Victoria Thornley.

“Not only does Victoria have a passion and love for the water as a rower, she is also incredibly in tune and passionate about health and wellbeing, something we’re equally committed to by bringing the ultimate wellbeing solution to the bathroom with the AquaClean shower toilet.

“Through this exciting new partnership with Victoria we will continue to raise awareness of washing with water, a movement that has and continues to gather pace.”

Victoria Thornley commented: “I’m thrilled to be working with Geberit as ambassador for the Geberit AquaClean Shower Toilet.

“I have an incredibly close connection to water through rowing and I really like the feeling of washing with water. The AquaClean provides a fresh out-of-the-shower feeling thanks to its cutting-edge WhirlSpray technology, and eliminates the need for toilet paper, providing optimum hygiene in the bathroom.

“For me, success happens long before you get in the boat, and preparation is key in so much of what I do day-to-day to be successful. Preparation is an integral part of training and so having a bathroom routine that sets me up for the day and helps me to recover at the end of a session is really important.

“Technology is also of the highest importance to me, not only in my training but also in my everyday life, and the Geberit’s AquaClean is packed to the rafters with state-of-the-art technology, from its Whirlspray technology to my personal favourite, the heated seat!”

To find out more about the Geberit AquaClean shower toilet visit: www.geberit-aquaclean.com.

Shower brand Kinedo has announced the appointment of Nicola Lees to the position of Business Development Manager.  Nicola joined the team on 1st Feb 2020 and has hit the ground running thanks to her extensive knowledge of the sector.

Prior to joining the team at Kinedo, Nicola worked for City Plumbing Supplies (Part of Travis Perkins Group) for five years as a Senior Account Manager.  She was involved with new build plumbing contractors and housebuilders and prior to this she worked in sales for over a decade with some of the UK’s leading housebuilders.

Nicola is tasked with gaining specifications with regional housebuilders and to develop sales in the leisure sector as well as within bathroom showrooms. She will also be first line of support for national and independent merchants for both Saniflo and Kinedo.

Outside work the mum of one spends her spare time travelling and is planning a wing walking challenge – just for fun.

More news from Kinedo.

Roper Rhodes has reported it has enjoyed robust sales over the last year and as a result has steadily been recruiting. The company has had 22 employees start this year already with more to come later in the year.

This expansion in people has been across all aspects of the business from logistics to customer services to marketing. Katie Staff , Head of HR commented “it has been a really busy but extremely rewarding time for us to be able to take on so many new people across both our Bath and Portbury sites. Our People are what set us apart at Roper Rhodes and we continually take steps and act on employee feedback to ensure our working environment and benefits make Roper Rhodes a great place to work”.

Leigh Leather, Managing Director said: “I’m so pleased to be able to make these sorts of announcements, it is testament to the team we have built up as it is through all their hard work we are able to make this investment. I am looking forward to further success with everyone at the company from those who have been with us 20 years to those just beginning their career with us”.

Over the last year, Roper Rhodes has introduced many new HR initiatives including developing wildlife-friendly gardens for employees to enjoy their lunches in, to employee recognition schemes. An Employee Assistance programme (in conjunction with BUPA) has just been introduced to help promote employee wellbeing.

To learn more about Roper Rhodes click the link

About Roper Rhodes:

Roper Rhodes Ltd is one of the UK’s leading independent suppliers of bathroom furniture and bathroom products. Over forty years of experience goes into creating each and every one of our products. Functional, stylish and seamlessly put together, our range incorporates contemporary and classic designs. Our development programme ensures we are continually updating our product range to reflect changes in style.

Kaldewei has been awarded an iF Design Award 2021 for its sustainable steel enamel MING washbowl.

The traditional contours of this exquisite MING bowl from Kaldewei are inspired by Chinese Ming vases. The washbowl is made from durable steel enamel; with its elegant lines, large interior depth and a delicate, filigree edge it is 100 percent
recyclable and offers a sustainable option.

Whether located a classic bathroom or in a more creative setting – the elegant MING with its convex curved silhouette creates an image that helps turn the bathroom into a sensual retreat. An easy-to-clean finish, the Kaldewei Pearl Effect, is standard on all MING bowls, it is also available in lava black matt, black, alpine white glossy and alpine white matt.

Unidrain is expanding its sales force and is venturing into the export market, and as such has announced the appointment of International Key Account Manager Kim Kragbæk Larsen. Kim joined Unidrain in April and has been appointed for his expertise in sales; he will be in charge of expanding the export market for Unidrain.

Kim has over 20 years of experience within sales, most of which he gained amongst the cutting edge of the fashion industry; spending the last 10 years as Head of Sales at DK Company, Saint Tropez and Ilse Jacobsen. With the changing trends styles and innovation within the world of architecture and design, his experience in the ever-fluctuating world of fashion will stand him in good stead.

Kim Kragbæk Larsen says: “I am looking forward to introducing Unidrain’s products to the international high-end shops and department stores. Initially, my primary focus will be on the European market and I will be concentrating on getting the Reframe Collection, Unidrain’s series of bathroom accessories into the export market.”

Unidrain Reframe Collection

“At the same time, I will be working to ensure that Undrain and all they can offer is one of the first names that spring to mind when architects and designers are selecting drains and accessories for the bathroom. It will be an exciting challenge to bring my sales skills from the dynamic and fast-paced world of fashion into play within a totally new industry for me. Ethically this also appeals to me too; as this is an arena where the focus is on sustainability; the products have a much longer lifespan and a much smaller carbon footprint.”

More news from Unidrain