The Spirit of Water – finding cultural identity by examining life, art and culture
October 2009
Iserlohn/Bologna. The bathroom and kitchen have long evolved from being mere functional rooms into being real living spaces. Users have become inhabitants. In the bathroom especially, Dornbracht has played a considerable part in this development as the pioneer, cultural pacemaker and inventor of ritual bathrooms. In the kitchen too, Dornbracht has paved the way for a new approach – the localisation of subjective zones.
Today, the Dornbracht brand stands for knowledge, ideas and inspiration based on the element of water. The fields of architecture, lifestyle, design, technology and culture form the basis in this process. They are the direct factors connecting the Dornbracht brand to the flow of life.
The way to a relevant, inspirational and meaningful brand for Dornbracht is, above all, via the continuous and intensive examination of contemporary art and culture. Since 1997, the company has supported and initiated selected exhibitions and projects as part of the Dornbracht Culture Projects. Originally intended to increasingly expand on the idea of “culture in the bathroom”, giving it complexity, authenticity and relevance, today the discussion goes even further. The result is permanent exchange, dialogue between independent artists, musicians, architects, designers and the company. Dornbracht aspires to develop a cultural identity and to create not just material products but spirit as well. An aim to which the company is drawing ever nearer. Searching, curiosity and continuous discussion are the essence of the brand. Just like people, ideally brands never stop learning.
The Dornbracht Culture Projects currently comprise six series:
Statements, Performances, Installation Projects, Sponsorships, Edges, Conversations.
DORNBRACHT STATEMENTS: In 1997, we began thinking out of the box with this series. The Statements were the trigger and starting point for all of the subsequent series. For the first time the focus was on giving the then company claim “culture in the bathroom” additional content, complexity, relevance and authenticity. The task setting for all projects in this series was simply “culture in the bathroom”. The resulting commissioned works were free interpretations from the chosen artists’ individual perspectives. Each project was thereby devoted to a precise artistic form of presentation: photography, video, painting, animation, fashion, music or sculpture. All projects in the Statements series were documented individually and in limited editions. Internationally renowed artists such as Nick Knight, Juergen Teller, Douglas Gordon, Rosemarie Trockel, Rita Ackermann, Yves Netzhammer, Raf Simons, Marc Quinn und Thomas Rentmeister are among the protagonists in the Statements series. The Statements were designed and curated by Mike Meiré / NEO NOTO. Statements 7, which, for the time being, is the last project in the series, was presented in 2003 on the occasion of the 50th Biennale in Venice. The Dornbracht Statements were the catalyst for the constant exchange between independent artists, musicians, architects, designers and the company. The findings, ideas and inspirations of the artistic examination of the subject “culture in the bathroom”, influenced the company and its means of communication.
The Statements series was thus also a source of inspiration for Dornbracht’s lifestyle bathrooms and Dornbracht’s ritual bathrooms. For example, Mike Meiré derived ideas for the MEM bathroom from the Statements. The theme of ritual architecture in the bathroom was also enhanced at a scientific level thanks to a research term entitled “Dornbracht Research Unit Ritual Architecture in the Bathroom”, a joint project with the ETH Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich).With the Dornbracht ritual bathrooms, living spaces were first designed which were broadly based on people and their activities in the bathroom, which followed the “culture in the bathroom” and the rituals of cleansing. The lifestyle bathroom, Lulu, and the ritual bathrooms, Tara Logic and Elemental Spa, followed MEM. The current Dornbracht lifestyle bathroom, Supernova, a solitary unit in the room which places all of the functions and zones of the bathroom right at the very centre, will be presented for the first time at the ISH 2009. The architecture for this bathroom was created by Mike Meiré, as were those of the previous bathrooms.
DORNBRACHT PERFORMANCES: Since 2005, Dornbracht has been continuing the idea and aspiration of the Statements series with a new concept. “Performance” characterises the transition from visual arts to performing arts. The objective, however, remains unchanged: inspiration and impulses for the brand and for people by exchanging ideas with independent artists.
The new concept thereby places the temporary, situational character in the foreground. Performance 1, “Dendron”, a one-hour dance performance by choreographer Mark Jarecke, was presented as a “staging” as part of the Milan Furniture Fair.
DORNBRACHT INSTALLATION PROJECTS: This series began as a joint project with Udo Kittelmann and the Colgone Art Association and was continued with the Frankfurt Museum for Modern Art. The aim of the public/private partnership is to initiate and finance new productions by chosen artists. The “installations” developed here were only ever displayed temporarily in one of the museum’s exhibition rooms.
DORNBRACHT SPONSORSHIPS: Convinced that the Dornbracht brand has a higher social responsibility, sponsorships are also part of our cultural commitment, alongside the individually developed cultural projects. For example, Dornbracht funded the German contribution for the 48th and 49th Biennale for contemporary art in Venice, being the main sponsor of the German Pavilion which was furnished by Rosemarie Trockel and Gregor Schneider. Particularly discussion-intensive exhibitions such as Into Me / Out of Me, presented in the PS.1 in New York, in the KW – Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and the MoCA in Rome, are part of the Dornbracht concept.
DORNBRACHT EDGES: The starting point of this series’ projects is a real or potential problematic in the context of Dornbracht’s product developments. Thanks to the once again deliberately free examination of the respective problematic on the interface of architecture, design and art, the Dornbracht Edges are a kind of external research laboratory for the brand. This can be experienced for example in the first collection of soundscapes suited to ritual architecture in the bathroom in the “Noises for Ritual Architecture”. The “Noises for Ritual Architecture” were staged and exhibited as a Sound Spa.
The current project in the Dornbracht Edges series is called “Global Street Food” and was created by Mike Meiré. It follows on from his previous work “The Farm Project”. Both works examine the subject area of kitchens and nutrition in the broadest sense. If Mike Meiré displayed the kitchen as the stage of life, as a quasi call for an alternative, “Global Street Food”, a collection of improvised street kitchens from all over the world, holds another secret: inconspicuous details as a gateway to deeper longings.
DORNBRACHT CONVERSATIONS (DC): With the Dornbracht Conversations, the company introduces a new format – a platform for public discussion between the disciplines of architecture, design and art. The discussions are always based on brand- and product-related themes. Thus, DC 1 debated for example the problematic “What is a design classic and what significance does a classic have in a transversal culture?” Tobias Rehberger, Stefan Diez, Gerda Breuer, Dieter and Michael Sieger, Mike Meiré and Andreas Dornbracht among others took part in the discussions. For DC 2 with the problematic “Is design art? Is art design?”, Dornbracht was able to engage collector Harald Falckenberg and designer Konstantin Grcic as podium participants.
The Dornbracht culture magazine “Iserlohn – the Dornbracht Culture Projects” provides a deeper insight into Dornbracht’s commitment. The magazine is the brand’s cultural memory, reflecting and documenting the cultural projects. The magazine’s name, “Iserlohn”, attests to the company’s background as well as the starting point for an internationally successful manufacturing company which aspires to being a culturally relevant designer of living spaces. The return to values such as origin and tradition provides such a direct contrast to the currently widely discussed subject of globalisation. Dornbracht is looking for discussion once more.
About Dornbracht
Aloys F. Dornbracht GmbH & Co. KG, with its headquarters in Iserlohn, is a globally active manufacturer of high-quality fittings and accessories for bathrooms and kitchens. The company regularly receives international design awards for its product designs and is also distinguished by its long-term commitment to cultural endeavors. Since 2006, the bathroom and kitchen edition of the "Dornbracht - the SPIRIT of WATER" publication has been regularly released, a publication which documents Dornbracht's vision as a company with cultural relevance and reflects the broad spectrum of the Dornbracht brand. Between being a magazine and a catalogue, the publication succeeds in combining the inspiration, dialogue and innovation that distinguishes thought and work at Dornbracht.
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CONTACT: Further information on Dornbracht and Dornbracht products as well as digital press releases are available in the internet at www.dornbracht.com or from the Dornbracht Press Office: Meiré and Meiré, Aline Wenderoth / Stephanie Eckerskorn, Lichtstr. 26-28, D-50825 Cologne, T. +49 (221) 57770 -402 / -416, email: a.wenderoth@meireundmeire.de, s.eckerskorn@meireundmeire.de. Melanie Prüsch / Anke Siebold, Köbbingser Mühle 6, D-58640 Iserlohn, T. +49 (2371) 433 -2119 / -2118, email: mpruesch@dornbracht.de, asiebold@dornbracht.de.