Brand Highlight: Rapsel

If the Italians reign in the bathroom, then Rapsel is king. Since the 1970s, the company has been designing modern washbasins, bathtubs, showers, furniture systems, WCs, bidets, and accessories. Rapsel’s philosophy is guided by “identifying objects with highly innovative content and great quality of aesthetics and form.” Rapsel designs for a sophisticated public, and while it has predominantly catered to residential markets, the company now serves contract markets as well, since the bathroom “is becoming more important inside public areas.”

Various Rapsel products such as Coup de Foudre by Shiro Kuramata and Starck-Lola Herzburg by Philippe Starck have become “cult objects.” Both of these washbasins celebrate simple form and material purity. Coup de Foudre combines a curved glass table with a Murano blown glass basin, a rectangular mirror, and a one-handle mixer. The clear and reflective materials create a sense of lightness. Starck-Lola Herzburg uses chromed brass and stainless steel in a freestanding wash unit that includes towel holders, soap holders, and a mirror. Curvy and resplendent, Starck-Lola Herzburg revels in its circular form and its shiny materials: the style might be termed feminine industrial mystique.

Rapsel pieces that are quickly earning iconic status include Arne, a sinuous bathtub created by Soda Design that pays tribute to Arne Jacobsen’s Egg Chair, and One: Il Bagno Che Non C’è, a larch wood collection designed by Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez that features curvy slat surfaces. Other unique products include Vision, a translucent freestanding basin by Nespoli & Novara. Made of Alicrite®,Vision is lit from inside, emitting an otherworldly glow the designers refer to as a “magic aspect.”

While Rapsel is known for its modern shapes and trend-setting designs, the company pays special attention to research in order to produce functional objects that are technically perfect. Rapsel products “are a tangible sign of what the future of domestic design is going to be.”

Posted January 23rd, 2013 by Joseph Starr