Casa Decor defines this style as a convergence of natural and surreal elements: think stone-clad walls with mirrored ceilings. Minimalism and raw materials collide, lending poised, theatrical drama.
It is arguably the boldest, most disruptive trend at this year’s Casa Décor show, and the most unexpected: surrealism. Fantasy becomes a design tool, and the home provides the ideal canvas for exploring ideas and bringing creative flights of fancy to life.
That’s exactly the vision of Dutch designer Marcel Wanders in Espacio Laufen, a conceptual space for premium Swiss bathroom brand Laufen. A master of the genre, Wanders dares to imagine a Duchamp-inspired bathroom where bathtubs masquerade as chandeliers, toilets provide seats at the table, and washbasins find an extraordinary sense of purpose. Mischievous mirrors defy logic with their placement. Nothing is what it seems. Nothing is as it should be… But so what…?!
Meanwhile, over at the Zooco Estudio space showcasing Geberit sanitaryware, glass blocks take centre stage. The traditional square grid of ceramic tiles is reimagined with tempered glass bricks, revived from 19th-century architecture. Here they’re given a new 21st-century lease of life as gently undulating glass-block walls define different functional areas within a single room. Their appeal is transparent: they allow natural light to filter and diffuse throughout the space, bathing it in a soft, luminous glow. The Geberit bathroom is elevated to an almost conceptual level, “in dialogue with natural elements such as wood and stone, where the play of light creates liquid walls and immerses the space in an aquatic world.”
Designer Tomás Alía takes Espacio Cosentino into a surreal setting where ceilings take the limelight. He revives the old palatial custom of embellishing ceilings to the hilt, with the functional aim of visually expanding the room. He plays with an abundance of mirrors, colour, and mouldings, sparking a dialogue between objects and their reflections, and between artisanal tradition and technological innovation.
