This month we talk to a legend in the design industry. Frank Sawkins from Czech & Speake. You may not realise that many of the iconic ‘looks’ of bathroom brassware, which is the name used for taps, spouts and shower heads, were originally designed and supplied by Franks company. An industry leader, design innovator and expert in how to achieve the 5* luxury function and aesthetic in on of the hardest working rooms in your home.
Great Design means something functions as brilliantly well as it is beautiful!
Frank shares with us one of the first attempts at creating an innovative function in the bathroom incorporating a push button flush (something which is common place today, but wasn’t heard of then) and how his boss’ brilliant design solution turned out not to be so brilliant - resulting in a flooded house. Reminding us that the function is the most important aspect! Helping reinforce my favourite phrase, function first, aesthetic after.
Hotel feature bathrooms - Why are they such a common source of inspiration?
Why do we love them
Frank reminds us that the bathroom is an important test of the value of a hotel room - if we’ve spent €500 or €800 euro a night we expect for every element to be a very high standard, and the bathroom is one of the most important locations to showcase this. The investment in a hotel bathroom, therefore, is really a way of making you comfortable and feeling like you’ve got value for money from your stay! It’s also why trying to reproduce that look at how exactly like for like can be eye waveringly expensive!
Bathrooms are glamorous
Bathrooms are a really good way of articulating the epoch of the hotel and whether it’s the classical style of Claridges or the more modern styling of the Rosewood hotel there is a way to inject glamour into the bathrooms.
Bathrooms are inspirational & emotional!
Staying in a hotel normally means we have the space and time to relax in the way we can’t at home. We will take the time to have a bath on a Monday night, when we would never manage this in our day to day busy lives! So not only are we spending time in these beautiful spaces taking in all the design details - we are also generally in a more positive and relaxed mindset - all of which is conducive to absorbing all those inspirational design details.
‘Who doesn’t love a glass of Champagne, good music and a beautiful bathroom!’
Frank Sawkins, MD Czech & Speake
Sympathetic bathroom design.
If you live in a period property - there is a great supply of era specific brassware which you will find to suit the period of your building. Frank goes on to talk beyond taps, into the icon roll top baths and even the use of appropriate wallpapers all too invoke and articulate the design style.
The original creator of the heritage tap range
I tell off Frank for not self promoting that in the 1970’s and 80’s, Czech & Speake brought out a range called the Edwardian - which has since been imitated and adopted (but never bettered in regards to quality) across the world. If you have used or own a property with a ‘Victoriania’ styled bathroom - there is a very good chance you are seeing the inspiration from Franks design. If you are really lucky - you will actually have Czech and Speake originals!
Must haves in a bathroom
The first is water pressure:
A bathroom should be therapeutic experience - this does mean good supply of hot water at the right pressure, literally, on tap. And if you are thinking about water supply also making sure the drainage is as efficient as the supply.
Challenge your designers with your desires:
If you want to have three people all having showers or baths at the same time in the house, challenge your designers with how to achieve this. It is possible to operate different systems to create this, but with extra design comes extra cost. If the investment in that solution is too great for you - at least you know that you chose to have to stagger your showering, rather than being disappointed that your home isn’t performing as you wanted.
Separate Lavatory:
Adverts for bathroom sanitary ware always shows everyone in one room - but the reality is separating out the loo from the rest of the bathroom gets twice the use of the space. 5* hotels are using lavatory cabinets to achieve this - ensuring that the remaining space is pure luxury.