TOTO
in-house design team

Red Dot: How can a sink and tap be transformed into a harmonious whole?
TOTO in-house design team: To create harmony between sinks and taps, it is important to think of interior design in its entirety. THE CRASSO taps and sink are designed to blend in seamlessly with the surrounding architecture and consist mainly of horizontal and vertical lines. The idea was to eliminate as many elements as possible that would interfere with spatial harmony. Another important aspect of the design process is product ergonomics, so we always build a prototype to assess the movements the customer will do, along with various body postures.

How do you approach product development in general?
We are trying to create comfortable experience that exceeds customer expectations and pleasant experience, rather than design product itself. That’s why we always start off by gaining deep insights into lifestyle habits, values and potential needs and by sharing that understanding with developers, salespeople and researchers. Then we discuss what actions and behaviours in the kitchen we need to recreate to give form to our ideas.

What detail do you think is often underestimated when designing sinks?
We think that it is ease of cleaning. Few kitchen manufacture deeply consider the ease of cleaning. But we go out of our way to design parts like the joints between the worktop and sink or along the drain, so that our customers can keep their kitchens sparkling clean with little to no effort.