AXOR at 125: How Design Authorship Transformed the Modern Bathroom

As the Hansgrohe Group celebrates 125 years since Hans Grohe opened his workshop in Germany’s Black Forest in 1901, one of the most compelling stories within its enduring legacy is not only one of engineering excellence, but of design authorship.

Launched by the Group in 1993, luxury brand AXOR has spent more than three decades demonstrating that the bathroom can be far more than a functional space. In the world of AXOR, it becomes a place of ritual, atmosphere and personal expression, shaped by some of the most recognisable names in contemporary design.

Philippe Starck: Redefining the Bathroom

Few collaborations changed the bathroom category as decisively as AXOR’s partnership with Philippe Starck.

In 1994, Starck and AXOR introduced the salon d’eau, reimagining the bathroom as a living space rather than a conventional tiled wet room. The accompanying AXOR Starck collection was inspired by the archetypal well pump and reduced to an elemental composition of cylinders with a joystick control. It would become a design icon.

The partnership continued to evolve over the decades. AXOR Starck Organic followed in 2012 with an explicitly ecological brief, while AXOR Starck V arrived in 2015 with a transparent glass spout that celebrated the movement and vitality of water.

In 2023, AXOR ShowerComposition extended Starck’s distinctive design language into a modular architectural shower system, proving the lasting relevance of the original vision.

AXOR Citterio C

Antonio Citterio: Architectural Continuity

If Starck brought revolution, Antonio Citterio introduced continuity and architectural maturity.

The first AXOR Citterio collection appeared in 2003, drawing inspiration from Italian neoclassicism through flat, reflective surfaces, balanced proportions and an unmistakable sense of monumentality. Rather than relying on decorative flourish, the collection established a language of confident understatement.

AXOR Citterio M translated this philosophy for metropolitan living, offering a more slender, tapered and space-conscious interpretation. AXOR Citterio E refined the dialogue further, balancing softened curves with precisely defined surfaces.

In 2024, AXOR Citterio C reinterpreted the washbasin fitting for a new era of compact luxury. Slimmer, softer and more tactile, the collection introduced a fine chamfer detail, optional cubic-cut textures and the resource-conscious CoolStart function.

What makes Citterio’s contribution particularly compelling is that it continues to evolve.

In 2025, AXOR and Citterio introduced ShowerSphere, an elliptical shower programme designed to provide a generous and luxurious water experience while reducing flow through water-conscious technology.

The collaboration moved further into architectural territory in 2026 with AXOR Incava. This wall-integrated shower object combines thermostat control, a hand shower and a storage niche within one almost invisible component.

The progression illustrates how AXOR’s most successful design partnerships are not one-off collaborations, but ongoing conversations between architecture, craftsmanship and innovation.

Patricia Urquiola: Emotion and Expression

Patricia Urquiola brought an entirely different sensibility to AXOR.

Recruited through the brand’s WaterDream initiative, she developed AXOR Urquiola as an artful fusion of styles. Asymmetrical, expressive and intimate, the collection included mixers, basins, bathtubs and accessories that blurred the boundaries between the bathroom and the living area.

Her work expanded AXOR’s interpretation of luxury, moving it beyond restraint and towards memory, personality and emotional texture.

Jean-Marie Massaud: From Organic Landscapes to Sculptural Precision

Jean-Marie Massaud pushed AXOR towards a more atmospheric and elemental expression of luxury.

His 2005 AXOR WaterDream envisioned the bathroom as an organic landscape. That idea flowed naturally into AXOR Massaud, where fittings evoke shelves and waterfalls, while bathtubs appear almost like lakes within a private retreat.

AXOR Edge later explored the opposite end of the design spectrum. Here, geometric precision was elevated to the level of jewellery, with diamond-cut surfaces milled to extraordinary tolerances.

While AXOR Massaud made the bathroom feel connected to nature, AXOR Edge transformed the faucet into a sculptural object of exceptional refinement.

AXOR ONE collection can be individualised in Matt Black or an exclusive FinishPlus surface

Barber Osgerby: A New Language of Interaction

Barber Osgerby shifted the design conversation once again by focusing on interaction.

Their collaboration with AXOR began with AXOR One in 2015. The radically simplified shower control allowed users to manage temperature, water flow and spray selection through a single, intuitive element.

In 2021, AXOR One expanded into a complete bathroom collection. By 2025, the range had gained new washbasin, bath and shower variations, including cross handles positioned deliberately between traditional and contemporary design.

In 2026, the duo’s AXOR Archivio collection extended this thinking into a softer and more historically influenced language. The collection demonstrated that innovation does not always require rejecting the past. It can also mean carefully reinterpreting and re-editing the archive.

A Culture of Creative Collaboration

Beyond its headline collaborations, AXOR’s design culture has been enriched by numerous other influential contributions.

Phoenix Design shaped the purist AXOR Uno and the Belle Époque-inspired AXOR Montreux before placing personalisation at the centre of AXOR MyEdition. With cover plates available in materials such as leather, wood, marble and glass, the fitting became a customisable luxury object.

Nendo’s AXOR LampShower combined ambient light and water in one of the brand’s most unexpected and imaginative propositions.

Front, meanwhile, revealed the hidden beauty of pipes, valves and funnels, transforming technical components into visual poetry.

Precision, Individuality and Longevity

What this 125-year reflection makes clear is that AXOR’s achievement lies in far more than its ability to attract celebrated designers.

The brand has created a system in which strong authorial ideas are supported by manufacturing excellence, architectural usability and extensive opportunities for personalisation.

With more than 2,000 products, a broad selection of finishes, custom services and a strong production base in Germany’s Black Forest, AXOR has transformed creative collaboration into a genuine design platform rather than a marketing gesture.

In this context, AXOR’s interpretation of luxury is not defined by excess. It is expressed through precision, individuality and longevity, paired with responsible water use.

At 125, Hansgrohe’s legacy is often told through inventions, patents and engineering firsts. Each of these achievements remains important.

For architecture, design and luxury enthusiasts, however, AXOR presents an equally rich cultural story: how a company rooted in water technology learned to communicate through designers and, in doing so, helped teach the modern bathroom how to feel.

AXOR. Form follows Perfection.