AXOR Places of Origin: culture of craftsmanship
With the brand campaign, AXOR Places, the design brand explores the very personal Places of Memory of well-known design partners, such as Jean-Marie Massaud, Phoenix Design or Barber & Osgerby. “We connected the very personal ‘Places of Memory’ of AXOR design partners with the individualization possibilities that the AXOR MyEdition faucet collection offers: maximum freedom in the choice of materiality for the mounting plate”, explains Anke Sohn, Head of AXOR Brand Marketing. She continues: “Inspired by the recollection of a certain encounter, of a mood, of an adventure, of a ‘place of memory’, we transport a certain material that is reminiscent of that place into the here and now. Thus a piece of the world materializes in the appearance of the individual faucet”.
Not only the material’s origin, but also its journey of conversion is considered. “With portraits of craftsmen, we are not only focusing on our design partners and the creatives behind the brand, but also on the craft itself, the materiality, and the origin of our products”, Sohn continues.
The finest materials give AXOR MyEdition an exclusive appearance: leather, wood, marble. Highly specialized enterprises process them near the brand’s headquarters in the Black Forest. The spirit of artisan manufacturing still prevails in the workshops: Passionate master craftsmen and women process the raw materials to perfection. Not only does AXOR value these skilled experts, but they are also in demand for outfitting high quality yachts and private jets. Overall, the perfect combination of material and craftsmanship with short transportation distances and regional strengths over the long term.
Leather: sensuous haptics and perfect aesthetics
“Leather is a natural product, you feel it when you hold it in your hand, it has a certain warmth”, Sebastian Rampf, master upholsterer, explains. The hides come from cattle from southern Germany or Austria. Every hide is inspected by hand and the surface is checked for marks so that they don’t run into the cut. The hide is split down to a thickness of one millimeter so that it can be used to cover delicate objects just as the AXOR MyEdition mounting plate. Most of the processing is still done meticulously by hand, such as sewing the cover plate or applying the AXOR logo with a hot stamp. Nappa leather is used in the interior design of yachts. That gives us the assurance that this leather can also be used in wet areas. Durability meets tangible design. The universal, ancient origins of leather take the stage in the room this way: perfect, luxurious, and sensual.
Wood: art can be timeless
“Walnut is one of the most beautiful high-grade woods ”, Jürgen Gaiser, master carpenter, says. The walnut used for the plate of the AXOR MyEdition collection comes from sustainably managed forests in North America and Canada. It is cultivated and processed according to socially and ecologically responsible aspects. The tree is cut down, the logs sawed and then sliced in the veneer preparation area. Only inspected pieces with perfect grain are considered. The fine wood veneers are glued to each other by hand. Veneer strips are glued together crosswise to form a stable bond so that the wood does not warp when it encounters moisture. The veneer packets are pressed and cut to the dimensions of the final format. For additional stability, the wood panel on the back side is milled out and glued together with a stainless-steel plate. A laser is used to apply the AXOR logo to the plate. Then the surface is oiled to protect the material and give it an elegant appearance. The finished plate speaks to the senses of touch and vision: it feels seamlessly smooth and skillfully refined. The wood keeps its natural color and develops an especially individualized radiance.
Marble: from cathedrals of white stone
“It is absolutely extraordinary to produce natural stone in this thin format”, Joshua Walter, master stonemason, says. The Jenn Cliff Massif in South Tyrol provides the white marble for the mounting plates of the AXOR MyEdition collection. AXOR has chosen to use the world-famous Lasa marble in addition to the black marble from Basque country. Calcite marble is very durable with a stable structure. Only pieces with especially beautiful veining are selected; the edges and gloss must be just right; production requires minimum tolerances. Mining in the quarry consists of splitting large, heavy blocks weighing about forty tons and transporting them into the valley where they are raw cut, then cut into slices and raw plates and stored. In Oberkirch at the foot of the Black Forest, marble specialists cut these plates to production size. The wire saw cuts the plates in half once again to the desired thickness before they are ground and polished to a high gloss. In processing the plates, the specialists must meet certain challenges. Because the thin stone can be easily broken, their work must be meticulous. To make the marble ready for use in the bathroom, impregnation must be applied. Afterward, the AXOR logo is lasered into the marble and filled by hand with colored tint. The finished marble plate is a tiny masterpiece: brilliant, perfect, and individual.
AXOR develops, constructs and produces taps, showerheads and accessories for luxurious bathrooms and kitchens to perfection. At the highest aesthetic and technological levels, avantgarde, one-of-a-kind pieces and collections are created. Some of them are considered classics of bathroom design to this day. Collectively they embody the claim “Form Follows Perfection”: not ending the developmental process until nothing more can be added or removed. Pace-setting design objects have been developed with this recipe for more than 25 years with world-renowned designers, among them Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio, Jean-Marie Massaud and Patricia Urquiola. AXOR is a brand of the Hansgrohe Group.