Bathroom Poetry

Inspired by the seasons in her adopted home of Paris, the 35-year old German-Danish designer created a new colour concept for Villeroy & Boch that adds a very personal touch to the elegant washbasins in the Artis series and selected bath collections. «Villeroy & Boch stands for family, quality and tradition. The designs are very diverse – from timelessly classic through to contemporary to rural,» Gesa Hansen explains.

Born in 1981 into a family of furniture designers and architects, Gesa Hansen’s love of design came very early in life. She originally wanted to be a graphic designer, came to Paris while studying furniture design and did an internship with the famous architect Jean Nouvel. After graduating from the Bauhaus University in Weimar and the Nagoya University of Arts, Gesa Hansen worked for several design studios in Tokyo and Paris.

In 2009 she followed the family tradition and set up her own label, «The Hansen Family», for hand-crafted furniture influenced by Scandinavian design. Her first collection received numerous renowned design awards. «Good design eliminates the superfluous and still leaves room for the poetry of an object,» Gesa Hansen describes her design concept. Gesa Hansen’s Parisian HFB Studio, which she founded with her two partners Pascaline Feutry and Aï Bihrwhich, creates excellent interior design and is also very successful. In 2015, Wallpaper Magazine named her one of the 200 most important designers in the world.

Colours and forms are an expression of the own personality and a popular stylistic device in interior design. For this reason, Gesa Hansen created 15 elegant colours for the delicate Artis washbasin edition, which comes in four harmonious shapes – round, oval, square and rectangular – that add a timelessly classic touch to a modern bathroom. «Nothing provides more beautiful and interesting colours than nature,» the designer says, whose colour concept was inspired by the Parisian lifestyle, the people and nature in the city as they change through the seasons.

The result is an attractive colour palette where each season has three shades, ranging from a fresh green of spring to a summery yellow, from autumnal pinks to a crisp wintry blue. They are complemented by three elegant black and grey shades. «Colours have a very positive effect on the mood and atmosphere in a room and create a feeling of freedom,» Gesa Hansen elaborates.