40 Years Design
It’s not always bad luck when things get broken. Like one time over 40 years ago when a washbasin fell to the ground and cracked a few days before the yacht it was being installed in was due to launch. This mishap actually proved to be a stroke of good luck, as it marked the start of a new passion, a whole series of trailblazing designs and a partnership that has endured to this day.
Almost exactly 40 years ago, we unveiled our first design: the washstand LavarSet for Alape. Today, it seems like almost everyone has a product designed by us in their home. So we thought this anniversary would be a perfect opportunity to share with you – both here and on our social media – a little bit of history and some personal insights into 40 years of design.
One key foundation for it all was the Sieger family passion for water and, in particular, for sailing. By the late 1970s, company founder Dieter Sieger, an architect by trade, had already designed many modern family homes and luxury villas. Inspired by his love of ships, he then also turned his hand to motor and sailing yachts, and quickly earned a reputation as a designer of elegant, cutting-edge interiors. When, in 1981, a washbasin fell to the ground at the shipyard and cracked, rapid action was called for. Sieger phoned up the manufacturer Alape and got through to the company’s then managing director, Heinrich Feldhege, who quickly arranged a replacement. When Feldhege later saw a photo of the yacht’s stylishly designed bathroom, he was so impressed that he met with Sieger in person and commissioned him to design one of the first all-in-one washstands. The result, LavarSet, was unveiled at the international bathroom trade fair ISH in Frankfurt in 1983. Just two years later, we designed Domani for Dornbracht, one of the first coloured taps in Germany, and two years after that Duravit launched its first complete bathroom collection, Giamo, likewise designed by us. All three partnerships are still going strong today.
Ever since these beginnings 40 years ago, our team has kept on growing and kept on designing iconic products for the bathroom, dining table and more. We’re going to be presenting a small selection of them, profiling a different one each week and sharing some personal insights. You can look forward to plenty of surprises along the way!
Clicking the image will take you to our Instagram account, where you can learn more about each design project.
