Interview with Yves Cramar and Marc Viardot on Volta de Laudes
Of their first collaboration, the Swiss toilet of Laufen and designer Yves Behar Volta – a sink that takes the common-or-garden washing basin to new environmental and poetic heights. Revealed as a part of the exhibition “a brand new water dimension” throughout Milano 2025 design weekthe product relies on MARKS carbon -free manufacturing course of and WantThe curiosity to attach sustainable expertise with on a regular basis rituals. The basin introduces a sculptural movement, much like the river, which reduces water consumption and simplifies cleansing, reflecting the shared perception of the duo within the intentional design and accountability of the setting.
Designboom visited the exhibition and spoke solely with designer Yves Behar and the Advertising and Design Director of the Roca Viardot group to seek out out extra in regards to the concepts behind Volta and the way Ceramic design Can turn out to be a platform for sturdiness and sensory expertise.
“There was no purpose to reinvent the washing basin. With Saphirkeramik, now we have already spent 12 years reinventing typologies, aesthetic, proportions, textures … however this was about new performance”, “ Viardot begins our dialog in Milan, reflecting on how the partnership began.
Laufen and designer Yves Behar Current Volta | all of the pleasant photos of Run
A collaboration fed by the primary electrical oven on the earth
Central of the undertaking is Laufen’s electrical oven, the primary tunnel oven on the earth for sanitary ceramics powered solely of renewable power. Developed in collaboration with the German firm Keramischer offended, a technological chief in ceramic Kiln engineering, this progressive manufacturing expertise eliminates the necessity for fuel ovens. He additionally laid the foundations of the partnership between The Swiss firm and the economic designer. Greater than an innovation in manufacturing, the electrical oven indicators a change in ceramic design – one which brings sturdiness in dialogue with each purposeful and aesthetics.
“The start line was the electrical oven – a serious innovation”, says Viardot. “It is the primary CO on the earth2-Free ceramic manufacturing line. At the moment, we’re the one ceramic manufacturing facility that does this, which is a large soar and, hopefully, only the start. There our considering started: the oven is already drawing all of the merchandise from the Gmunden manufacturing facility at the moment, however we began to ask what else might unlock. “
Developed utilizing Laufen’s absolutely electrical electrical oven, Volta displays a standard imaginative and prescient for sustainable ceramic manufacturing
Recreation of river flows in ceramic design
For Yves Behar, the electrical oven is greater than only a discovery of ceramic manufacturing – units the tone for a design strategy that tries to optimize sustainability at every stage, together with how the basin is used. With Volta, he reimagates the standard washing basin by introducing a carved water path that provides a dynamic and intuitive expertise. Impressed by the motion of pure flows, the design barely guides the water via a central channel, serving to it to hold the residues extra effectively. The result’s a extra pure interplay that reduces water consumption and simplifies cleansing.
“In most loos, the water is delivered invisibly and disappears rapidly. It’s purely purposeful, ‘ Behar says Designboom. “With Volta, we needed to create an expertise nearer to nature. The shape got here from this intention. The concept of a river or vortex was even within the first sketches.”
Impressed by the motion of pure flows, design guides water via a central channel
The transformation of the idea of river right into a purposeful ceramic kind was not a small pattern. Each Behar and Viardot confronted technical and conceptual challenges because the prototypes started to take form. With none digital simulation instrument to foretell water movement, the staff needed to depend on bodily experimentation, development of huge -scale ceramic prototypes, regulating angles and observing how water moved in actual time. The distinctive geometry of the sink is feasible by Laufen’s sashirkemik, a high-performance materials that permits the exact formation of skinny lips and sophisticated contours, pushing the boundaries of what the ceramics can do.
“The principle problem was to not know if it can work,” Behar remembers. “There was no software program to simulate this we needed to construct actual prototypes, of full dimension, to see how water will behave. Persevere in an unknown route was the most important problem. You possibly can all the time do one thing” cute “, however doing one thing new and purposeful requires braveness and religion. With out Saphirkeramik, the design would have seemed thicker, tougher – much less enticing. This materials innovation from Marc and Laufen actually allowed us to take away this. “