Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.When Bayode Oduwole and Claire Pringle, the couple behind modern made-to-measure tailor Pokit, moved from their home in Margate to Dover in 2022, they wanted a different kind of bathroom renovation. One that wouldn’t be new. Instead, they installed an ergonomic retro-futurist blue toilet and set of basins designed by Luigi Colani for Villeroy & Boch in the 1970s. “Bathrooms are designed to give maximum visual pleasure for the shortest time during the day,” says Pringle. “Many people try to recreate a sumptuous spa in their home, with marble tiles, or Japanese wood; we hate that.” The bathroom, with contrasting chequered tiling, was inspired by the Art Deco silhouettes of Hanger Lane Tube station in London. “The Colani pieces are rare,” says Oduwole. “I saw a double sink on sale for more than £13,000 from Pamono.co.uk, recently. I bought ours from eBay in Germany for next to nothing. Someone just wanted to get rid of them; the only major expense was shipping them to the UK and the hassle of the Brexit red tape.” The bathrooms throughout the house have been tackled in a similar manner. The effort was worth it. While some contemporary designers — including Ross Lovegrove and Samuel Ross — have dabbled in provocative shapes and wild Pantone colour codes for new bathrooms, originals from the 1950s to the 1970s have an authenticity and cool that transcends avocado kitsch. There are some brightly coloured, big personality bathroom treasures available from salvage specialists in Europe but, as Oduwole notes, scarcity, provenance and haulage can make them a luxury purchase. Stefano Urbinati is director of Marco Polo Italia, based in Montelabbate. He works with numerous interior designers, most often supplying pieces designed by Gio Ponti for Ideal Standard in 1954.A trapezoidal Oneline washbasin in gelato green, yellow or blue can sell online for in excess of $2,500 (plus more than $700 for delivery to the UK). “The trend for coloured vintage bathroom fixtures has grown in the past few years,” says Urbinati. “The Ponti pieces are always highly sought after.” The late designer’s ceramics are the holy grail of vintage sanitary ware. His curved pink bathtub and shower fittings were left untouched when French-Lebanese design studio David/Nicolas recently refurbished a 1920s apartment in Milan that Ponti had renovated in the early 1950s. Ponti, Antonia Campi for Pozzi Ginori and Achille Castiglioni “all created products in what are now rare or unobtainable colours”, says interior designer Simone Fantoni. When he took on the extension of a 1950s villa in Santa Margherita Ligure, he took inspiration from the colourful details of the original structure. “It has mosaics on both the facade and the interiors, with pastel shades of turquoise, aqua green and cream,” he says. It inspired him to research 1950s bathroom designs. Fantoni bought several pieces from Urbinati, including Ponti Z from 1954 and Oneline designs made by Ideal Standard in 1966. Interior designer Alberta Saladino used similar pieces in a 2022 refurbishment in lower Salento, Presicce, and also has a collection of vintage bathroom ceramics for sale at the Esprit Nouveau gallery in Naples. “We have wonderful Ponti Z pieces,” says Saladino. “But even more special is the 1900s floral sanitary ware designed by Campi, which we found in an old castle in Ivrea.”In the UK, Douglas de Paris sources 1950s and 1960s pieces in “coral pink, jade green and sky blue” for Sanitary Salvage, in Worcestershire. He has a particular interest in Barbican basins, originally made by Twyfords in the 1960s for the Brutalist arts and housing complex in London. They came in white, but also shades of pink, blue and yellow that date them as much as the space-saving shape: a vertical plane with taps fixed one above the other. “They represent a point when the cut-corner design gave way to more modern and curved styles,” he says. Still, Art Deco cut-corner sinks remain the most in demand among interior designers. Sanitary Salvage has a 1930s Ideal Standard sink and pedestal in turquoise, on sale for £500.Pairing a Deco sink with modern taps provides “a new kind of balance and harmony”, says London-based interior designer Michelle Kelly. While decorating the Rose hotel in Deal, she became “obsessed with finding the perfect pink sink for one of the rooms, and a green suite for another,” she says. “I am currently looking for a floral basin for a project in Ibiza. I want it to look like it’s been there for 200 years.”But there is one crucial question to ask if you go for something retro: is it compatible with modern plumbing? Dominique Fraser runs Timios Antiques, and regularly hauls architectural salvage back from markets in France. She recently bought some brightly coloured vintage sanitary ware for her own house — but, like buying a dress without trying it on, it was a roll of the dice. After some difficulty and great expense — and new specialist fittings from Catchpole and Rye — everything was plumbed in. But that “terribly elegant and slender” bathtub “turned out to be too narrow for my hips to actually get into, unless I am on my side,” says Fraser. “So now it’s a glamorous bath for my dog and children.”Find out about our latest stories first — follow @ft_houseandhome on Instagram
