WASCHTAG
Cologne furniture fair
January 2000
 Waschtag means “washing day“ in German and was the name of a project that won the Architektur & Wohnen magazine prize in Cologne in 2000.
Six European groups organized this exhibition during the annual Cologne Furniture Fair; El Ultimo Grito, Dumoffice, Glassex, GRUP, Kombinat and N2. They all worked together to each present a project under the same roof and on the same theme. More than a design project, Waschtagwas an experiment between young designers.
Karen Chekerdjian, the founder of GRUP, invited Veronique Demaret, Pascal Tarabay, and Catalina Tobon to explore the theme from a Middle Eastern point of view, working on the traditions of the hammam.
The project was an attempt to create a new typology of bathroom products and resulted in a kind of platform that could be used in any part of the house. It contained a wash basin and a comfortable chair andcould be used for sitting, eating, reading or watching TV, all while using the wash basin. The idea of confining washing to the bathroom could then evolve to finally invade the bedroom, for example. Our habits are not etched in stone as the evolving history of the use of the house proves, although we tend to forget this fact.
|