Written by Paola Leo
Hall 22 of the 60th edition of the Salone del Mobile has made room for a newborn brand that brings together four consolidated companies for bathroom and kitchen. This is House of Rohl, an umbrella brand that includes the Riobel, Perrin&Rowe, Shaws and Victoria+Albert.
Riobel’s brass taps for bathrooms or kitchens, in addition to boasting excellent material and design quality, also guarantee ease of installation (the company was born from a family that has been involved in plumbing for generations).
Characterized by a strong engineering component, Perrin&Rowe products are specifically designed for the different markets of the world, therefore they do not require additional adapters or converters for their installation.
Still made with the same artisan techniques used in Great Britain in the late 1800s, Shaws’ sinks for bathrooms and kitchens in refractory clay have a durability that makes them among the most resistant ceramics on the market.
With Victoria+Albert we are in the field of freestanding bathtubs and washbasins. Here the watchword is color customization, with over 200 color proposals to choose from. The material used for the tubs – QUARRYCASTTM – is made from a blend of Limestone ™ volcanic limestone and quality resins.
At the Salone del Mobile I met James Stickley, EU Sales Manager GPG – Europe & Russia of House of Rohl, and I asked him a few questions.
How and when did the House of Rohl story begin?
In 1983 with the American entrepreneur Ken Rohl, struck by the impressive design he found in European bathrooms and kitchens, which at the time was not available in USA. With his three children, he has gradually built a multimillion-dollar business by importing the best products from Europe and around the world. This passion for high quality international design has now culminated in the creation of the Maison Rohl, a project that seeks to position the brand as a buyer of the best brands and solutions for the kitchen and bathroom.
Tell us more about these brands.
Riobel produces kitchen and bathroom taps and it is well known in North America. Victoria+Albert deals with freestanding bathtubs and coordinated washbasins, made with the exclusive QUARRYCAST™ material, a mix of lava stone and resin.
Perrin&Rowe is a distinctly British brand and represents the heart of the brass industry, still making handmade taps to achieve the highest possible quality. Finally, Shaws is another quintessentially British company, founded by Arthur Shaw on Valentine’s Day in 1897 and specializing in creating beautiful fireclay sinks, hand finished, very durable and with a unique glossy finish.
What are the musts for a “high-end” bathroom?
Certainly a design that goes more and more in the direction of a “sanctuary of well-being” room since it’s the only one where you are alone, where you can reflect on everything and, in the tub, you can immerse yourself taking care of yourself.
And then the constantly evolving technological aspect. Already today we can remotely control, with a dedicated app, the filling of the tank and the choice of the desired temperature. Just as the taps can be monitored with a specific app, which in our case is an instant hot tap able to independently adjust the temperature to make tea at 80°, fill the pot with water up to 2.5 liters at 99°. And again the taps with advanced filtering systems and the brand new touchless home system.
4 brands (Riobel, Perrin & Rowe, Shaws and Victoria + Albert) in the House of Rohl sign have suggested to us some of the most recurring bathroom and kitchen trends at the Salone del Mobile 2022.
Article in collaboration with House of Rohl.
