The first bathroom designers: Ponti, Castiglioni, Aulenti. Historical sanitaryware and toilet seats.

The first bathroom designers: Ponti, Castiglioni, Aulenti. Historical sanitaryware and toilet seats.

Gio Ponti

Let’s start by looking at who this legend is and using one of his phrases: “Italians were born to build. Building is the character of their race, the form of their mind, the vocation and commitment of their destiny, the expression of their existence, the supreme and immortal sign of their history.” (Gio Ponti, Architectural Vocation of the Italians). To see the enormous design work of this genius, we refer you to the official website: http://www.gioponti.org/it/ and https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gio_Ponti because his figure deserves an important space. Here we focus on the sanitary ware and their toilet seats he designed for Ideal Standard, a company that in those years (1950) was being born and that also thanks to the collaboration with Ponti reached the incredible success that all of us in the sector know.

PONTI Z and ONELINE series by Ideal Standard

[year 1954] Stretched forward, almost suspended. So looking at it from the side we can describe it. Compared to the style of the time it was revolutionary. This is how Ponti describes it: “Ponti, “Ideal Standard wanted me to study not new shapes for its appliances (which would have been just one more variation), but their real shapes, that is, shapes that in their essentiality came close to those typical formal characteristics that definitively identify something”. The name is PONTI Z. You can find his toilet seat in the Sintesibagno store at the following link [ clik here ]. [year 1966] He designed a new series always for Ideal Standard: the ONELINE (undine), also here a revolution: starting from the classic oval shape, in the frontal part of the sanitary ware he creates an angle and creates a new geometric shape almost “pointed”. Look at the toilet seat at this LINK to understand what we are talking about.

Achille Castiglioni

A genius! Achille Castiglioni: “Experience does not give certainty or security, but rather increases the possibility of error. I would say that it is better to start afresh each time with humility so that experience does not turn into cunning”, taken from the website of his foundation (fondazioneachillecastiglioni.it). We also recommend a look at the WIKIPEDIA which tells of his incredible work. With two iconic sanitary ware series, which we will see shortly, designed for Ideal Standard he also contributed to the company’s market success in the 70s and 80s.

AQUATONDA and LINDA series by Ideal Standard

[year 1971] we take a lift from the site fondazioneachillecastiglioni.it “AQUATONDA sanitary fixtures. In this project, Castiglioni experimented with vitreous china, a vitrified porcelain, whose brilliance remains almost unaltered over time. A soft paste, very ductile, which can be shaped into any kind of form, assuming, when fired at temperatures of 1300 degrees, considerable resistance. Acquatonda is the name of the series, the three basic pieces of which have been developed, in their compact volumes and without reliefs, as plastic objects, starting from an initial idea of great evidence of the curvatures. In the washbasin, the shape of the basin is deepened at the point where the water collects and widened towards the user to collect the drip from the elbows; the front edge is shaped to contain the splash; the spout and drain, contained in minimal space, are concealed by the enveloping lines. The other two pieces are formally similar. The toilet has a single body – almost a monolithic element – between the toilet bowl and the cistern, whose shape is determined by the position of the siphon.” His toilet seat is available in the Sintesibagno store at the following link [ clik here ] [year 1977] Common denominator: the shape obtained by fusing two quarters of a sphere with a parallelepiped. The turning point in the bathroom furnishing world and the ceramic series: Linda. We have already talked about it in the post: ”Ideal Standard Linda series is a primary shape. A toilet seat cover formed by two parallel straight lines and two semicircles.” where we saw how many series of sanitary ware and their covers inspired: LINEA by Pozzi Ginori, TUSCIA by Ceramica Senesi, M2 by Galassia, C52 by Ceramica Catalano. In the post: ”Ideal Standard toilet seats and sanitaryware old models (part 1)” we have seen that together with: CONCA, TESI, DIAGONAL and LIUTO has made the company a leader in the bathroom market. All toilet seat covers for these sanitary ware (including the coloured Champagne, Mink, Blueberry, Whispering Pink and the official white Ideal Standard) you can find them in the store at the following link [ clik here ]

Gae Aulenti

Gae Aulenti, pseudonym of Gaetana Aulenti, is the best known face of Italian female design. A queen among many emperors. On her page on Wikipedia you can see just how great his creative vein was. He collaborated with the two leading companies in the market, Ideal Standard and Pozzi Ginori, and created two series of sanitary ware that were sales champions at the turn of the 80s and 90s.

TONDA series by Ideal Standard and LINEA series by Pozzi Ginori

[year 1991]. The Tonda series. We talked about it in the post: ”Ideal Standard toilet seats and sanitaryware old models (part 2)” where we saw the company’s 1990s production: CALLA, NEMEA, CANTICA and TONIC. This is how we describe it in this post: “With Tonda Ideal Standard gave birth to a new form of sanitary ware that did not exist before. It started with an oval shape and by moving back two sides it almost came to a triangular shape, while maintaining the curves!” A perfect toilet seat cover must be fitted to this sanitary ware. You can find it at the following link [ clik here ] in both the eu white and Ideal white versions (here we explain the difference between the two whites) . [year 1992] The year after the collaboration with Ideal Standard, the designer collaborates with Pozzi Ginori and gives life to: Linea. In this series by Pozzi Ginori called Linea (the name has never been more accurate), the starting point is the oval shape of the top and then she plays with “full and empty spaces” in the body of the sanitary ware that design it with a very logical style giving it full formal harmony. It was produced in white [ clik here] and in the champagne colour [ clik here ]. If you are looking for a toilet seat in a more modern material and maybe with slow motion hinges you can find it at the following link [ clik here ]

If you too have one of these sanitary ware series designed by these designers in your home, or if it’s none of the above, and therefore you don’t know which size toilet seat to order and buy, we suggest you use our handy service to find out the correct toilet seat for your sanitary ware. Simply send us an email to info@sintesibagno.it or a WhatsApp message to 3341288978 with two pictures of your toilet seat and a few measurements and we will be able to help you choose. Here is the video on how to proceed in the search for a toilet seat: