The personal touch
Underscoring the importance of customisation is the fact that the majority of German sanitary ware producers have set up customised production departments, allowing standard products to be modified to suit customers' needs. The service is available to individuals as well as the hotel chains and football clubs that you might imagine are target customers; you can request anything from an extra-long spout on a tap to a logo on a washbasin.
Customisation isn't the only way for individualism to manifest itself in the bathroom. It increasingly takes place behind the scenes, too. “It's no exaggeration to say that a revolution is taking place in the bathroom,” says Wischmann. “Behind the wall and behind the mirror, complex processes are being controlled by apps. The user hardly even notices – instead, he can concentrate on individually configured shower programmes or spa treatments that he operates via convenient controls.
“Bathrooms equipped with digital technology are becoming increasingly common in the contract sector. And it's only a question of time until they become widespread in the private sector too.”