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Jean-Marie Massaud’s collection for Axor is the epitome of style. Maria Louis meets the designer par excellence who plumbs the essence of nature.
It was fitting that I was introduced to French designer Jean-Marie Massaud on a houseboat sailing along the backwaters of Kerala – for it is just such laidback experiences of life that trigger off his ideas for Hansgrohe’s range of designer bath fittings.
His spirits visibly uplifted after watching the dramatic snakeboat race that Kerala is famed for, he declares with a flourish: “We don’t need heaters, we need warmth. We don’t need lamps, we need light. We don’t need taps, we need water!” And so, Massaud’s plumbing fixtures become unique sculptures dispossessed of technology – connecting us to one of the most fundamental elements of life: water.
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“For Jean-Marie Massaud, the person, his feelings and his needs take centrestage,” explains Philippe Grohe, head of the Axor brand. “With his design and spatial concept, he always searches for the elementary connection with what is natural.
This is mirrored by the collection Axor Massaud.” Grohe is, of course, referring to the harmonious connection between organic and geometric forms, natural aesthetics and modern design that the collection establishes.
It doesn’t just symbolise a new language of design, but exemplifies a new bathroom philosophy: a new view of the relationships between people, water and space.
Born in 1966 in Toulouse, France, Massaud graduated in 1990 from Les Ateliers, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle, Paris. He created the Studio Massaud with Daniel Pouzet in 2000 and widened his activity to architecture.
Together, they drive projects like the Tanabe House in Fukuoka, Japan. His contextual approach focuses on the search of the essential, where individuals are the centre of the debate.
Massaud focuses on different aspects of design: from industrial products to pieces of furniture. His award-winning creations are featured in the prestigious collections of design museums and other institutions in Amsterdam, Chicago, London, Paris or Zurich.
He defines the architectural images of the Lancôme stores in Paris, New York and Hong Kong or Renault’s performance at international auto shows. Recently, he made news for his Manned Cloud – a whale-shaped airship known as the flying hotel. His biggest architectural project to date is the 50,000-seat soccer stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico, christened ‘Volcano’.
After successful projects for companies such as Armani, Cacharel, Cassina and Cappelini oder Baccarat, Massaud brought his creative genius to work for Axor, the designer brand of Hansgrohe – and developed his vision of the ideal bathroom in 2005 within the project ‘Axor WaterDream’, which assumed shape in the collection Axor Massaud.
Inspired by nature and in keeping with the modern-day leaning of the urban population towards the original relationship of man to nature, his collection retraces the path back to our simple beginnings and helps users to relax in harmony with the elements. In fact, creating a symbiosis between man, nature and space is Massaud’s guiding tenet. “It is my belief that design can arouse genuine feelings in people,” he says.
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