Laufen continues to breathe new life into one of its longest-running and most successful collaborations with Alessi.

ILBAGNOALESSI finds poetry in an unlikely place. When visionary Italian designer Stefano Giovannoni first designed the collection in 2002, he reinterpreted classic bathroom archetypes, giving them an organic, almost sculptural character. 

His award-winning collection for Swiss bathroom specialist Laufen and legendary Italian brand Alessi has since captivated the design world with its bold form and subtle eccentricity. 

One of the collection’s central pieces, the toilet, exemplifies this. Its rounded cover completes the ceramic body in perfect continuity, generating a unified object that is entirely different from a traditional toilet, which usually has a flat top.

However, in the design world, classics don’t have the luxury of remaining stagnant when it comes to their materiality. Reflecting Laufen’s commitment to continual material innovation, the brand has ensured ILBAGNOALESSI has kept up with the times.

The collection has embraced daring forms and colours, using pioneering materials like Saphirkeramik and Sentec, alongside the more traditional Fine Fireclay. 

Renewed lightness in Saphirkeramik

The introduction of the Saphirkeramik – a high-performing material developed by Laufen – has made it possible to design washstands and washbasins with soft and fluid shapes that seem almost weightless. 

Experimenting with this ceramic material, Giovannoni has designed basins with rounded forms in different sizes, including 450 by 380 by 170 millimetres (mm) and 700 by 380 by 170 mm.

In doing so, he has reinterpreted Laufen’s Tuna washbasin, accentuating its long, organic shape in Saphirkeramik.

All the ceramic pieces, including the toilet and bidet, are available in four colour and finish variations. These include a glossy white with LCC (Laufen Clean Coat) surface treatment, as well as the new matte finish – in white, black or café – which lend the product a more contemporary look.

Sensual Sentec

The new free-standing bathtub takes its cues from the form of the washbasins. 

Made with Sentec, a mineral composite that offers a velvety surface, the tub is ideal for a long, regenerating soak. 

Blending ergonomic comfort with visual drama, the slim border widens to a comfortable headrest. 

The new version of the tub is also available in black or café matte on the outside and white in a satin finish on the inside, perfectly in tune with the finishes of the wider collection.

A holistic vision of the bathroom – key to the Laufen approach – finds maximum expression in the ILBAGNOALESSI collection.

Laufen is the proud sponsor of the IDEA Hospitality category, with winners announced at the IDEA gala in Sydney on 28 November. Buy your tickets here.

Photography by LAUFEN.