A Place to Relax, Retreat and Wash Away Stress

One of the fastest-evolving and most experimental objects in design today is the bathtub. The ubiquitous white porcelain rectangle that has been the major option for so long is now shape-shifting into an unprecedented variety of forms, from a spare spoon-like sculpture to a simulated bed draped voluptuously with faux silk sheets.

Whatever the shape, designers are far from frivolous in intent.

“The tub is taking the shape of receiving your body in a very respectful manner,” says Nasir Kassamali, owner of Luminaire in Chicago and Coral Gables, Fla.

Luminare’s loftiest expression of this approach is the exquisite Spoon Bath, a tub designed by Giampaolo Benedini, creative director of the Agape firm of Mantua, Italy. “So light and durable, so cleverly made out of a composite, powdered marble with epoxy resin,” says Kassamali, in a tone of admiration due a work of art. “Marble alone would be too heavy to bring inside the home.”

The Spoon tub is the epitome of one of the leading trends in bath design: the bone-spare look.

Diana Schrage, interior designer at the Kohler Design Center, in Kohler, Wis., where products manufactured by Kohler Co., a world leader in kitchen and bath design are displayed, says “minimalism is definitely strong, even if people call it by different names. We’re seeing a very uncluttered look.”

“The word minimalism is a faddist word right now,” says Kassamali. “The philosophy should be--people should question--do I really need this in my home? When you start to reduce things in your home so it looks more simple, it allows you to create an environment that is not a shelter from rain and snow, but a shelter for your soul.”

A revolutionary new line of bathroom elements by British designer Christo Lefroy Brooks, which will be coming to the U.S. in the months to come, also taps into the spiritual element. “Zen is spiritual cleanliness,” says Lefroy Brooks, whose “Zen Bath,” retailing at $6,375, complete with “sleepers,” or railroad tie-like supports made of English oak, offers a meditative experience.

“I’m getting more and more to see the bathroom as a place to be on your own, where you are relaxing, thinking your own thoughts, getting away from your computer,” he says.

The designer, who has just bought a home in Tuscany, says every villa he looked at there has a built-in chapel. “The nearest you can get to a built-in chapel in America is the bathroom,” he adds.

His Zen tub is made in the way a sculpture is, Lefroy Brooks says. “It is a question of taking away, taking away.”

While high-end tubs like the Spoon and Zen Bath are in the vanguard of this trend, the desire to evoke the aura they offer is experienced on other levels.

Schrage says the trend is trickling down to the mid-range consumer.

Consumers overall “are using their bathrooms much more effectively than they had before,” Schrage says. “Bathrooms are meeting more needs, the need to unwind and de-stress. This is not unobtainable by middle consumers.”

Kohler’s “sok” deep-soaking bathtub ($5,800) has generated a lot of interest among the 140,000 visitors who come to the Kohler Design Center every year, Schrage says. The 75-inch-long tub with ultra-deep basin submerges bathers from shoulders to toes in water that remains at a constant height and temperature.

“The tub was put in four months ago and is still the talk of the facility,” adds Cindy Howley, manager of the Kohler Design Center.

The soaking tub is offered by other manufacturers, such as Ann Sacks Tile & Stone, as well. “People’s lives are so hectic, they are trying to create a little bit of a spa feeling in their home,” says Dee Dee Gordon, senior designer at Ann Sacks.

She also finds “minimalist is very hot right now, kind of the Zen look, very clean-edged, as in our Onzen soaking tub.” Priced at $1,400, it comes in a variety of colors. It measures 48 by 48 by 32 inches. “Most tubs are 21 to 22 inches deep,” she says. “This one is indulgent.”

The tub is only one facet of change in the American bathroom, though a pivotal one.

“Our research tells us that very often when someone is redoing their bathroom, they start with the tub. It sets the tone for style and the type of materials they are going to go with,” says Gary Uhl, director of design for American Standard, the largest producer of plumbing products globally.

However, “this is actually a whole expanding trend, with a number of different components,” Uhl adds. “Homeowners are opting for a physically larger bathroom, through an addition or through internal remodeling, turning an extra bedroom into extra space for the bathroom.” As a result, “people have more room for a free-standing tub,” he says.

While the bathroom itself is getting larger, the area devoted to brushing your teeth and washing your face is getting smaller.

“We are getting away from the typical vanity look, with this huge mirror and basins stuck to the wall,” Kassamali says. “You now have a very simple vanity, a very simple basin.”

“The revolution seen now in bath design started in the ‘80s and was growing through the ‘90s and exploded in the new millennium,” Uhl says. “While we are in a more difficult economy at the moment, people are continuing to improve their lifestyles,” he adds.

Uhl doesn’t think minimalism is the only trend.

“Minimalism is a more adventurous style,” he says. “There is a fashion-forward group in the U.S. that looks for that look. But much of America, because of the high-tech world we live in, wants to go home to a bathroom where they feel comfortable and secure in a vintage or traditional style.”

In that category, American Standard’s Enfield bath is an expression of another major trend, the furniture look in bathrooms. “We reached back in American history and took a page from Shaker style for Enfield,” Uhl says. “Enfield is almost an American Zen style.

“The furniture look is migrating [to the bathroom] from the kitchen and dining room or study, but primarily from the bedroom suite,” he adds.

The most remarkable expression of that migration is American Standard’s Draped tub. This dramatic fixture has a black wrought-iron frame base and appears as though someone draped a luxurious white silk cloth over the black framework. The Enfield is $3,900; the Draped starts at $2,000.

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Mary Daniels is a writer for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Co. newspaper.