COCOONING CURVES

Hard lines are softened with sculptural organic shapes

“MOULDINGS AND CURVES

THAT SOFTEN STRAIGHT LINES REPRESENT THE BEST

OF CONTEMPORARY BIOPHILIC DESIGN, CREATING EMBRACING SPACES WHERE PURITY AND SOFTNESS COEXIST IN HARMONY” SARA RAMUNDO, product design manager,

Devon & Devon

Organic lines are shaping up to be big news in bathrooms, softening our sanctuaries into more cosseting spaces. ‘This trend is all about creating a cocooning environment that will help you unwind physically and mentally,’ says Mandarin Stone’s creative director Louisa Morgan. Curves are abundant in nature, so there is a biophilic link at play. ‘On a simpler level, curves serve as a welcome relief to the straight lines and hard edges typically found in bathrooms.’ Bath and basin shapes are becoming increasingly refined, almost sculptural in form, thanks to the latest material innovations, such as manmade composites and ultra-thin ceramics. Also, most glaziers can cut a curve into your shower screen for an elegant silhouette.

We’ve already revived tasselled lampshades, fringes and swag pelmets in our living rooms, revelling in the gentle nostalgia of a bygone age. Now bathrooms are getting the same treatment. ‘Incorporating some luxury and joy into this domestic epicentre is exactly what we need in these turbulent times,’ says colour and paint expert Annie Sloan. ‘Simply adding a sumptuous swag of beautiful fabric will make the space feel more indulgent, secluded and spiritually restorative.’ Choose muted, antiqued linens and muddied paint colours to achieve an authentic time-worn edge. A blowsy frilled shower curtain, stencilled floorboards and some vintage artwork is all it takes to dress simple sanitaryware up to the nines.

Oblique wall tiles in Sand and Dark Grey, £47.76sq m; Casablanca Mono Decor 10/12 Hexagon floor tiles, £48sq m, all porcelain, Mandarin Stone Wet room designed by Decus Interiors. Brasilia Spine cement tiles in Milk and Coral, from £238sq m, Popham Design at Day True Kalos wash basin with circular mirror, from £4,172, Massimo Iosa Ghini for Devon & Devon

Walls in Paris Grey chalk paint; bath and chequerboard floor in Old Violet chalk paint, both £21.95 for 1ltr; finished in chalk paint lacquer gloss, £21.95 for 750ml; shower curtain in Linen Union in Antoinette/old White, £39.95m, all Annie Sloan