Install a Jean-Marie Massaud sculpture at home.
A proliferate designer, the Frenchman reminds us with every new work that there can be beauty in everyday things, be it a football stadium, airline tableware, or, in this case, a bathroom faucet.
13 years after his first collection for AXOR — the German designer brand that conceives and manufactures iconic objects for luxury bathrooms — the architect-designer has unveiled the AXOR Edge, a collection of faucets and shower fittings that are as functional as they are striking.
“More than a faucet, each product in the collection is a jewel, a masterpiece, a unique architectural object drilled from a brass block and then dressed with personal finishes,” Massaud says.
Geometric and rectilinear in form, each faucet is finished by a state-of-the-art diamond-tipped tool (typically used in the aerospace industry) that mill chamfers at precisely 45 degrees and carves precise pyramid-shaped facets on its surface.
If you thought the textured pattern, milled to micron precision, makes the taps look more like fine jewellery, or an art deco masterpiece, you are not alone. Others have also likened the design to gold bars and vintage cigarette lighters and flacons.
“In France, we had a big cultural tradition of arts décoratifs, where architects would work with refined craftsmen and sculptors to, for example, create the pattern of a façade. And we thought, okay, AXOR is a top brand. Let’s explore some processes to produce a faucet that’s not just die-casting and polishing — it’s making sculpture!” Massaud elaborates.
With bathrooms increasingly regarded as personal sanctuaries in which we devote time to self-care, it’s no surprise that the AXOR Edge is cast as an uplifting objet d’art. “We wanted to create an emotion by surprising people. When quality is a must, when competence is a due, then emotion must be first,” Massaud says.
AXOR Edge is available for the washbasin, bathtub, bidet, and with thermostat modules for the shower.
Hansgrohe Aquademie, 69 Mohamed Sultan Road; Tel: 6884 5060; Email: ; axor-design.com/asia; instagram.com/axordesign