PARIS — Most graduates of France’s famous HEC business school dream of creating their own tech startup, moving to the Silicon Valley or cutting their teeth at the McKinsey consulting firm. Instead, Hugo Volpei chose to focus on a subject that is, at first glance, less glamorous: the bathroom.
His curiosity was piqued in London in 2018, when he had dinner at Sketch, Pierre Gagnaire’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant. In this flamboyantly decorated hotspot, the loo is a destination in itself. Inside a tubular room with colored neon lights on the ceiling, the toilets are hidden in egg-shaped cubicles, all against a backdrop of unexpected sound effects.
“Except that once inside, the wow effect disappears. The bowls were white, ordinary,” Volpei recalls. He left the boring space convinced that the place where we spend more than a year of our life deserves a little upgrade.
Designer models
Partnering with architects Antoine Prax and Romain Freychet (who is also a childhood friend), and engineer Camille Mourgues, the young entrepreneur began working on the future Trone (French for “throne,” also a nickname used to refer to toilets).
In search of toilets that are at cozy, artsy and sophisticated all at once, they developed models that are singular to say the least: suspended asymmetrical shape, varnished or lacquered ceramic bowl in eye-catching colours or speckled finish, ash bezel, transparent tempered glass water tank.
“We found our first client at the startup incubator Station F, created by French entrepreneur Xavier Niel: the restaurant La Felicità,” Volpei says. With its five kitchens, this 25,000 square foot food court can welcome up to 1,500 people — with as many candidates for a bathroom break. Trone designed eight lavatories there, each in a different style.
In 2023, Trone installed its two models (which cost 1,200 and 2,350 euros, respectively) in 2,000 locations.
In addition to the toilet itself, the space’s entire atmosphere is redesigned to fit the client’s taste, from psychedelic to natural or industrial. And there was soon a queue for Trone. “Xavier Niel introduced us to a lot of people – the American artist Jeff Koons, the crown prince of Denmark, and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey — and the orders followed,” Volpei says from Trone’s new office in the heart of Paris.
Six years later, Trone has been entrusted to design the restrooms of many French and international public figures and companies, including chefs (Cédric Grolet, Mauro Colagreco, Stéphanie Le Quellec, etc.), catering groups (Big Mamma, Paris Society, Moma Group), hotels (Barrière, Accor, Cala di Greco, The Berkeley, The Emory) and architecture firms (Wilmotte & Associés, Hugo Toro, Uchronia).
“Last year, we installed our two models (which cost 1,200 and 2,350 euros respectively) in 2,000 different locations, twice as many as in 2022”, says Volpei, who completed a new 5 million euro fundraising campaign in the fall. What’s next? “Get rid of the toilet broom,” the design enthusiast jokes. How? “By pushing our R&D on the bowls’ enamel and on flush performance.”
Market changes
Volpei is not the only one up for the challenge. Historical actors are also taking part. In France alone, 3 million toilets are sold every year. A purchase that is often driven by utility rather than desire. For decades, toilets have looked alike. “It’s one of the rare consumer goods that has barely changed since the invention of the flush toilet 250 years ago,” says Julien Damon, sociologist and author of Public Toilets. Essay on Urban Amenities.
But recently the water closet — the unloved room “at the end of the hallway,” as Damon calls it — has gotten a makeover, as people have become more and more exigent about the performance and appearance of toilets, whether at home or elsewhere.
These new expectations originate from COVID-19. “Family life under lockdowns — with the overuse of home toilets — created a dual need for cleanliness and conviviality,” says Marianne Tournier, editor-in-chief of SdbPro.fr, a trade news website specialized in bathrooms.
In fall 2022, the Swiss sanitary supplier Geberit took the matter seriously and surveyed some 15 experts — including anthropologists, architects, sanitary distributors, craftspeople. They confirmed the same trends, notably the desire to transform this off-putting place into a welcoming shelter, with more efficient appliances and cozier decor.
Maximum hygiene
Over the past two years, manufacturers have been competing in a race for groundbreaking innovations. Their goals? First, ensure maximum hygiene inside the bowl. The German company Duravit has thus developed a ceramic with a coating that effectively kills germs. “And soon an ultraviolet system which will completely destroy them,” says Duravit Sales and Marketing Director Alexander Pfab.
Another German brand, the ceramics manufacturer Villeroy & Boch, relies on technology based on silver ions embedded in the bowl’s walls to prevent the proliferation of bacteria.
Precise swirling jets clean the bowl thoroughly and without splashing — while reducing water use.
Geberit, inventor of the so-called “rimfree” toilet – with smooth edges to avoid inaccessible microbial nests – has made its new generation toilet flushes a priority. Thanks to precise swirling jets, the bowl is cleaned thoroughly and without splashing — all while reducing water consumption.
“It also includes a more effective suction siphon effect,” explains Guillaume Leurent, marketing and sales director at Geberit France. After creating a wall plate for dual flush toilets (3 liters or 6 liters), Geberit is about to launch 2 or 4 liter models. “With the same efficiency,” Managing Director Yves Daniélou says.
But “the cleanliness of a toilet also includes the toilet seat,” notes Lionel Herbeau, CEO of Herbeau, one of France’s last sanitary manufacturers. In Villeneuve-d’Ascq, in northern France, his teams are working on a hingeless lid, magnetically attached to the bowl, therefore “retractable and very easy to clean,” he says.
Bath and beyond
In addition to technology, design and decor are also finding their place in water closet makeovers. For Volpei, it’s about “re-enchanting an obligatory passage, making the intimate sublime.” That starts with sitting on a beautiful object. Clean, soft lines, material effects, color palettes… and the bowls are transformed.
Some manufacturers, like Duravit, turn to star designers like Philippe Starck — although at 3,500 euros, the signature product does not come cheap. Others, like Jacob Delafon, Villeroy & Boch and Geberit, go all out on flush plates, offering dozens of options: chrome, satin, glass or wood, with round, square or rectangular buttons.
While across Europe toilets are usually located in the bathroom, in France they are often entitled to a separate room. “They are a few square meters where you can go crazy on decor on a small budget,” Tournier says. Lifestyle press as well as Instagram and Pinterest abound with photos of this now trendy room, and more and more designer hotels and restaurants are making it a signature space, likely to go viral.
Making sure the water closet smells nice is Carol Lang’s job. As head of household fragrances at Givaudan, a Swiss manufacturer of flavorings and fragrances, Lang has noticed that “Blocks, gels, sprays, sticks… brands are increasing the number of sanitizing devices.” While toilets are becoming more sophisticated, so are the scents you’ll find there, evolving beyond lemon or pine.
“The sensation of freshness is available around a palette of more complex notes like fruity lavender, mint and eucalyptus, as well as marine or clean linen scents,” Lang explains. “We are also inspired by masculine perfumes with herbaceous, cologne, woody or amber notes.” A direction especially explored for certain items that have become essential, such as diffuser sticks and scented candles.
Bidet 2.0
Another trend that sanitary manufacturers believe will take over is the shower toilet. At the forefront of this campaign is the device’s inventor, the Japanese company Toto. In this country known for its cleanliness, 90% of the population has used these toilets, which have an integrated shower and dryer, for the past 40 years. They’re found in homes as well as hotels, offices, trains and public restrooms. Set to conquer Europe, Toto started with the five-star hotels and palaces of Paris: “We have installed 1,500 of our Washlet model and should quickly increase to 3,000,” says Toto France manager Yu Takagi.
Yet, only 2% of French toilets have this function. “While in Switzerland, 10 out of 100 toilet systems sold include a bidet function, and 6 out of 100 in Germany,” says Duravit’s Pfab. One sticking point is the cost: Full of technology to adjust the direction, intensity and duration of the water jet or even the drying temperature, shower toilets are expensive, costing around 2,000 euros. That’s why Geberit intends to release “a more affordable model for less than 1,000 euros,” Daniélou says.
Toto’s Wellness Toilet will be able to analyze our movements and what ends up in the bowl.
But in Tokyo, Toto’s designers and engineers are already planning the next move: the Wellness Toilet. A system clad in sensors and boosted with “machine learning,” which will be able to analyse our movements and detect what ends up in the bowl. A smartphone application will notify us regarding possible imbalances in our diet, or even more serious health problems linked to our colon or kidneys.
No launch date has yet been set and, as expected, Japan will serve as a test market. The French population may not be ready to have their bottoms and private business monitored.
