If I haven’t said it before I’ll say it now, “leave it to Ludovica.” If you don’t know what that clause refers to, than dare I say you need to brush up on your A&D, or, at the least, have a quick read of such 3rings favorites as the Loop Shower Stall, the Morphing Console, or the Morphing Bath Collection. Therein you’ll gain a quick appreciation of the contributions Ludovica + Roberto Palomba have made to bettering and beautifying our bath environment.

Lab 03 Washbasin. Designed by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba. Manufactured by Kos.

Lab 03 is a Simple, Streamlined, and Sublimely Smart Washbasin

Before elaborating on the merits of the design duo’s Lab 03 washbasin, I should expand the above assertion to read “Leave it to Ludovica and Roberto Palomba.” The twosome—frequent collaborators with Kos/Zucchetti—are prolific purveyors of bathroom innovations. And the Lab 03 is just one recent example.

To give the aforementioned designers the podium, L + R refer to the spatial dynamics of Lab 03 as “geometric and organic shapes combining fusing developing in harmony to engender soft and sensual forms of sinuous yet well-defined line.”

Parsing that polished nugget of prose, I’ll just say that Lab 03 indeed evinces some kind of phenomenological junction between the natural and the manufactured. I see it most in the free-standing basin’s incredibly thin yet sculptural profile, the quality that indeed justifies the assertion that Lab 03 “interprets the complex eclectic and international character of modernity.”

So what else does Lab 03 do? It provides the tremendous freedom of a freestanding basin, allowing untold versatility in bathroom design. It also saves space while establishing a bold new aesthetic, courtesy of the cleverly integrated towel rack. Lastly, it establishes a new notion of what constitutes contemporary—in the synthesis of curves and straight lines, in the unorthodox material of polished stone, in the versatility of free-standing or back to wall models: “Sculpturally complex, architectural in form and material… a veritable architectural-design project for a sophisticated and elegant bathroom ambience.”

About the Manufacturer: Kos began in 1998 as a company that produced whirlpool tubs and multifunctional shower cabins. In 2001, the Italian company hired internationally recognized designers Ludovica + Roberto Palomba to design their entire collection and oversee the company’s art direction. Ludovica + Roberto Palomba’s designs “reinvented the bathroom setting in type and morphology.” Then in 2007, Kos entered the Zucchetti group, and the two leading brands were “united by a shared philosophy and purpose.” Zucchetti and Kos design bathroom products for cosmopolitan clients who want to build “domestic panoramas.”