How art deco details can transform a bathroom
Ruth Sleightholme explores how interior designers are taking inspiration from the lavish materials and curved lines associated with the art deco period to create glamorous contemporary bathrooms full of visual drama.
1/10The Margate flat of British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan and the art dealer Mattias Vendelmans has been transformed with the clever use of mirrored panels. Vertical strips partially line the rooms, giving a sense of light and movement, reflecting the wide skies famously painted by Turner, and visually dissolving the walls of the flat. This feature was also inspired by the local 1930s architecture, notably the Dreamland Cinema. Introducing reflective hard surfaces to a bathroom like this can create a timeless, glamorous feel while ensuring the space remains practical.
JL DENOIX2/10In his house overlooking a Sicilian bay, Jean-Pascal Lévy-Trumet has almost exclusively used local stone and wood, building every piece of furniture from scratch. Here, the single-material approach is particularly striking. The multidisciplinary designer came up with idea for matching niches for the basin and shower (seen reflected in the mirror) and commissioned local craftsmen to carve curved wall panels and a basin from the same richly veined marble. jplt.net
3/10This scheme by Maddux Creative positively radiates art deco style - from the arch of the shower screen to the Jean Cocteau-esque mosaic floor. Scott Maddux and Jo leGleud took their cue from Villa Serralves in Portugal, built between 1925 and 194:4, the bathroom of which is rendered entirely in pink marble. For this Marylebone house, the duo chose a green basin from The Water Monopoly to sit within the pink marble for full colour immersion. madduxcreative.com
4/10A seamless effect has been achieved in this bathroom by Claves Architecture. The base of the sculptural travertine bathtub has been carefully carved to appear to curve down and integrate with the floor tiles in the same material. In a nod to more traditional architectural forms, the skirting board, chimneypiece, mirror frame and dado have all been created in contrasting Cipollino Verde marble. With the progress made in technologies such as water-jet and laser cutting, it is easier than ever to have materials like stone or glass cut to a specific design for a unique finish. claves.fr
5/10In the shower room of a top-floor flat in central London, Hollie Bowden used sheet mosaic in a rich golden shade. Extending up the full height of the wall and across the basin unit, it achieves a simple but pleasingly cohesive result in this small space. The fittings and the overall aesthetic are no-nonsense, but the walnut wood cabinet and mirrored panel. both of which were custom made. demonstrate that the design is thoughtful as well as practical. holliebowden.com
6/10Studio Toogood has brought a distinctive decorative look to this stylishly spartan bathroom in Ibiza. Pale neutral tiles have been interspersed at irregular intervals with tiles in a darker shade to create a subtly geometric motif on the floor and walls. This offers visual interest while providing a backdrop that showcases the vast column of textured stone and unusual cantilevered and rectangular bathtub, both of which establish the graphic, sculptural theme. t-o-o-g-o-o-d.com
ALIXE LAY7/10The Hôtel du Couvent in Nice is housed in a sensitively renovated, 17th-century convent. In the hotel's bathrooms, an almost monastic aesthetic has been elevated by a bespoke pale Italian marble unit incorporating two basins, a generous splashback and a shelf. The monolithic appearance of the marble combined with fluted detailing on the supporting pedestals bridges the gap between a minimalist and a decorative philosophy. hotelducouvent.com
8/10In this Nice apartment designed by Paris-based studio Ebur, Cipollino marble is a striking yet uniform backdrop for two exceptional antique finds: an 18th-century font used as a basin; and a 17th-century Venetian glass-framed mirror. Both of these pieces are set off by the distinctive veining of the marble. Sensibly, the designers Racha Gutierrez and Dahlia Hojeii Deleuze have kept the rest of the space free from an decorative flourishes and have chosen restrained designs for the tap and shower fittings. studioebur.com
9/10The dark green gloss walls, rounded forms and black accents in this tiny space by Gachot reflect the enduring appeal of 1930s Italian design - a style that often had its best expression in bathrooms due to more bespoke, built-in elements (which are frequently better preserved, too). Today's interior designers regularly cite bathrooms such as those by Piero Portaluppi at Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan as the inspiration behind their choice of marble surfaces, curved forms and high-gloss finishes. gachotstudios.com
10/10Jermaine Gallacher has injected a Georgian townhouse in Clerkenwell with a more modernist feel by devising this unusual bathroom. Both the fluid, asymmetrical shapes and the mosaic details were inspired by a 1970s bathroom at designer George Nakashima's house in Pennsylvania. Sheet mosaic is a flexible material, making it an excellent choice for curved forms like these. A 1927 'Satellite' mirror by Eileen Gray completes the look. jermainegallacher.com
