The first designers in the bathroom world: Ponti, Castiglioni, Aulenti. Historical sanitaryware and toilet seats.
Gio Ponti
Let’s begin 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, Vocazione architettonica degli italiani). 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 fixtures and their covers that he designed for Ideal Standard, a company that was in its infancy in those years (1950) and that also thanks to his collaboration with Ponti achieved the incredible success that all of us in the industry 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 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 variant), but their true forms, that is, the forms that in their essentiality came close to those typical formal characteristics that definitively identify a thing”. The name is PONTI Z. You can find his toilet seat cover in the Sintesibagno store at the following link [ clik here ]. [year 1966] He designed a new series again for Ideal Standard: the ONELINE (undine), also here a revolution: starting from the classic oval shape, in the front part of the sanitary ware he created an angle and created 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! To immediately understand who we are talking about let us quote this sentence: “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 you take 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 passage from the site fondazioneachillecastiglioni.it “AQUATONDA sanitary fittings. In this project, Castiglioni experimented with vitreous china, a vitrified porcelain, whose brilliance remains almost unchanged over time. A soft, ductile paste, which can be cast into any shape, assuming, when fired at temperatures of 1300 degrees, remarkable strength. Acquatonda is the name of the series, the three basic pieces of which have been developed, in their compact, relief-free volumes, as plastic objects, starting from an initial idea of great evidence of curvature. 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 spray; 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 cistern, the shape of which is determined by the position of the siphon.” Its toilet seat cover 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 form. A toilet seat cover formed by two parallel straight lines and two semicircles.” where we saw how many sanitary ware series and their toilet 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 sanitary ware old models (part 1)”we saw that together with: CONCA, TESI, DIAGONAL and LIUTO has made the company a leader in the bathroom furniture market. All WC covers for these sanitary ware (including the coloured Champagne, Mink, Blueberry, Whisper Pink and the official Ideal Standard white) you can find them in the store at the following link [ clik here ]
Gae Aulenti
Gae Aulenti, the pseudonym of Gaetana Aulenti, is the best known face of Italian female design. A queen among many emperors. On her page on Wikipedia it is possible to discover 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 sanitary ware old models (part 2)” where we saw the ’90s production of the company: 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 retaining the curves!” A perfect toilet seat cover must be fitted to this sanitary fitting. You can find it at the following link [ clik here ] both in the white eu version and in the white Ideal Standard version (here we explain the difference between the two whites).
[year 1992] The year after the collaboration with Ideal Standard, the designer collaborated with Pozzi Ginori and created: Linea. In this series by Pozzi Ginori called Linea (never has the name been more apt), she started with the oval shape of the top and then played with “voids and solids” in the body of the sanitary ware that designed 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 cover in a more modern material and perhaps 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 is none of the ones we have just seen, and therefore you do not know which toilet seat size 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 e-mail to info@sintesibagno.it or a WhatsApp message to 3341288978 with two pictures of your sanitary fitting and a few measurements and we will be able to help you choose. Here is the video on how to go about finding a toilet seat cover:
