The vanity can be both the centerpiece and the workhorse of the bathroom, providing what homeowners need to relax and take care of themselves. The design of this important piece of furniture comes down to the manufacturers that have been improving their products over the years. KBB spoke with these experts to find out their secrets to success, inspirations and the challenge behind creating such a significant part of the bathroom.
The JOB
“At Dura Supreme, our product/design team touches all aspects of a product offering before we bring it to market. Not only are we staying on the forefront of design and trends, but we are also looking at the overall function of a product and its end use.”
– Karen Wistrom, Dura Supreme
“I’ll typically start out with rough drawings by hand of a piece or an element I want to incorporate into a new or existing design. Depending on the complexity, I’ll make physical mockups in the factory or have one of my engineers put it into 3D so I can get a better feel for what it will look like. I usually go through several versions of a design before I’m able to dial it into a final product line.”
– Hib Johnson, The Furniture Guild
“We basically make appliances for the bathroom. We are specialists in de-cluttering, so that means we find places for everything. Storing items is easy; it is the ease of use and retrieval that matters.”
– Howard Katz, Robern
“As a product designer, I seek out and provide the most unique, exclusive, high-quality bath products in the world and bring them to market here in the U.S. My process includes thinking about the needs and solutions that apply to how people live, function and go about their daily rituals in the bath space.”
– Bob Gifford, Hastings Tile & Bath
“Our bath furniture offering makes it incredibly easy for a homeowner to envision their entire suite of bath furniture and for a Dura Supreme designer to create that vision,” said Wistrom. “Our vanities are highly customized but easy to design, order and install, abounding with luxurious details and convenient storage solutions.”
Daily Challenges
“Finding that magic balance between the dream and vision of the designer and the capability of manufacturing to produce a repeatable, high-quality product at a popular price point is a challenge we appreciate and love to achieve.”
– Wistrom, Dura Supreme
“The product must be designed so that it can be configured to fit the customer’s space and work within our ever-growing menu of finish materials, countertop programs and interior options.”
– Johnson, The Furniture Guild
“I believe the challenges I face most often are hiring, developing and motivating talented and creative people to really see beyond what they are bogged down with at the moment. It is very difficult when faced with deadlines and budgets to ‘break out.’ But it is the best part of the job when a cost-effective and clever idea that challenges convention is brought to the table.”
– Katz, Robern
“The challenge is that I have noticed a flooded market with cheap copies of vanities. It is important to educate our customers and help them understand the need to purchase high-quality products with the great designs we offer.”
– Gifford, Hastings Tile & Bath
“My favorite product would have to be one of my first major from-scratch products, the M Series of modular cabinets and lights from Robern,” said Katz. “It set the stage for a generation of development and growth in many directions – both functionally and aesthetically – and is still the backbone of Robern’s business.”
Finding Inspiration
“Inspiration comes from every direction and depends on the particular aspect of cabinetry in development. Color and design trends often point a direction for creation and development of particular finishes and color palettes. Even specific design challenges that our designers have to repeatedly customize to achieve a certain look can become the impetus to creating an entire offering that streamlines that look.”
– Wistrom, Dura Supreme
“I’m a furniture junkie. Put me in a new room, and you’ll find me scouring the furniture. From exterior form to the engineering behind the scenes, I’m constantly searching for different ways to build something or for design elements that could work into one of my designs.”
– Johnson, The Furniture Guild
“Inspiration comes from other industries and other countries and from never taking anything for granted. These would include automobiles and kitchen appliances, small luxury space living in Asian and European architecture and seeing the bathroom as everything from a utilitarian experience to a private luxury spa. Secondarily, advances in materials and technologies that we can apply are especially fulfilling.”
– Katz, Robern
“I find inspiration everywhere, and this means I look at things differently as a product designer. I find solutions to everyday challenges. This is why Hastings’ design offerings are endless, and I am always inspired to think of new ways to conceptualize unique products for the bath space.”
– Gifford, Hastings Tile & Bath
Set to be highlighted at KBIS 2019, The Urban Style Collection of vanities from Hastings Tile & Bath offers variations and design flexibility to any bathroom vanity. The collection includes an LED backlit framed mirror with open shelves; tall open or closed storage cabinets with the ability to specify one side closed and one open; soft-close metal drawer construction; open or closed side panels; duplex drawer fronts; and grooved handles that can be a different finish or color and the grooved handle wraps around the entire cabinet.
Favorite Part of the Job
“It’s incredibly rewarding to work with such a talented team of engineers and product designers who can fluidly take an inspiration from concept to completion and then see it fully adopted into beautiful kitchen and bath designs!”
– Wistrom, Dura Supreme
“Working with my crew. I’m super blessed to be surrounded by such an amazingly talented group of people. While me and my father – who founded the company – are the final say on design, I’m finding that the more I let them be creative, the more fun everyone has, and the better our products become.”
– Johnson, The Furniture Guild
“It’s great listening and sharing ideas with the new product team, seeing products go from sketch to production, solving problems and hearing about customers satisfied with our unique solutions for an organized and beautiful grooming/styling space.”
– Katz, Robern
“I love traveling the world for inspiration and being the first to introduce a new style or finish to our market. We want to be the ones setting the trends.”
– Gifford, Hastings Tile & Bath
“Without a doubt, I love our new line of metal designs. After 33 years of making products solely out of wood, The Furniture Guild ventured into metal, and it’s been quite a journey,” said Johnson. “Winston, Alton and Avant were the first three product lines, and I believe those designs really set the stage for where we’re headed next.”
