Ripples radar: 6 bathroom trends for 2023
Our designers have just returned from the world's leading bathroom industry show; here are the top trends they spotted which are set to be big this year.
1 | Chubby design
Sleek and slender bathrooms are making way for something decidedly more playful. With rounded corners, thick edges and curves in all the right places, chubby design provides a finish which is cosy and cocooning, enveloping the user and creating a sense of comfort. With harsh lines and edges eliminated, this style is both aesthetically pleasing as well as satisfying to the touch.
2
| Fresh fluting
The fluted trend is far from fading...in fact it's more prominent than ever. No longer limited to just glass, fluting is emerging across all bathroom categories, from baths and basins to vanity units, accessories and even WCs. Horizontal, vertical and diagonal are all popular variations of the trend, as well as a mixture of widths and textural finishes.
3 | Playing with scale
Big is getting bigger and small is getting smaller. Where space allows, designers are incorporating oversized basins, sizeable baths and illuminated mirrors which almost cover entire walls. Where space is at a premium, we're seeing the emergence of ingenious solutions for compact living and tiny homes, from impossibly detailed miniature magnifying mirrors to bijou Japanese baths.
Style tip: Scale is an often overlooked tool which can be used not only for practical reasons but to create a dramatic design impact. Mixing products and patterns of different sizes helps to draw the eye around the room and add pockets of interest. That being said, it's always important to leave areas of negative space, in between and around items, to give the eye a place to rest and to avoid the space looking too cluttered.
4 | Tactile textures
Textured bathroom products are an emerging trend which look to introduce a tactile element to a typically functional room. Adding natural textures such as stone tiles or slate-textured basins and shower trays helps to soften a space and create a relaxing, spa-like feel. Natural textures and materials which are used throughout the home, such as wood, rattan and bamboo are now also filtering through to bathroom products.
5 | Rose gold
From chrome to matt black, matt black to matt white, matt white to brushed gold and brushed gold to brushed bronze...the latest trend in the brassware space is here and it's rose gold. This material adds a warmth and lived-in charm as well as a real sense of luxe. It's now easier than ever to have this special finish across every brassware detail in your space, even down to the hinges on shower door and drain on your wet-room floor.
6 | Tonal schemes
Floor-to-ceiling tonal palettes are a key emerging trend and see bathrooms schemes created using different shades of the same colour. Playful pantones work particularly well as their vibrancy ensures the space doesn't feel too cold or clinal and the variation in shade adds interest and flair.
