Save water, recycle, celebrate: A visit to the leading trade fair for sanitary, heating and air-conditioning technology in Frankfurt am Main shows that sustainability is no longer just an empty phrase, but has become a matter of course. Some manufacturers are also focusing on multifunctionality and colour in their products. Only when it comes to heating systems do we still see dull boxes in the front garden.
by Markus Hieke
Anyone concentrating solely on beautiful new products could easily have missed it: the Value of Water Conference. For the first time, the ISH was accompanied by a keynote and discussion format. A format created by Messe Frankfurt in cooperation with Euroforum – and one that was to be welcomed, because it not only addressed consumption, but also the challenges facing people and brands today.
‘How can it be’, Dieter Gerten of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research opens the conference, ‘that there is a global water crisis on the blue planet Earth?’ The fact is that only 2.9 per cent of the world’s water is freshwater, Gerten explains 99.7 per cent of it is locked up in deep water and ice. Humans and animals, industry, agriculture and nature all compete for the tiny remainder. ‘What we do in one place can affect the water supply on a larger scale’, warns the scientist. ‘So, in addition to all the innovative solutions we will be discussing here over the next few days, we also need a new water ethic to think differently about water and treat it as a global good.’
‘What we do in one place can affect the water supply on a larger scale.’
Fuel Consumption Down, Comfort Up
Change of scene: Festhalle. With Gerten’s call ringing in our ears, we are interested in what is going on. Hansgrohe is one of the big players exhibiting here. Yes, what can be innovated when the best balance between water saving and pleasure has already been researched for washbasin mixers and shower heads? The company from the Black Forest thought that the washbasin could be reinvented. The Avalegra washbasin with integrated mixer has a classic water outlet and a kind of face shower. Derived from the Green Vision bathroom concept unveiled in 2023, gentle fountains shoot from the edge of the basin in an arc across the surface. Limited to a flow rate of five litres per minute, this should save a considerable amount of water when washing the face and hands.
The collaboration between Hansgrohe and the Dutch company Hydraloop is also noteworthy – another reference to Green Vision. Using filters, a bioreactor and UV disinfection, the system, which is the size of a refrigerator, purifies used shower water so that it can be reused for flushing toilets and washing machines. A built-in tank stores the purified water. It just goes to show how good it is for brands to enter into promising partnerships rather than invest in their own stand-alone solutions.
Two years ago, Kaldewei also made use of an existing innovation: the heat recovery system from the Swiss start-up company Joulia, which uses hot shower water in the drain to preheat the cold water pipe. The potential savings were considerable. However, the product has since been discontinued. Remember: A good product does not automatically sell itself. Especially in the absence of empirical data, the necessary communication effort with consumers and installers should not be underestimated. Grohe is launching the Rapido Heat Recovery shower system at the ISH. Hansgrohe is also working on heat recovery concepts.
From Circulation to Renewable Energy
Kaldewei is likely to be successful with the shower surfaces in the Solidlite range. Instead of a composite material made of polyester resin or mineral fillers on the underside, expanded glass is used here, which makes the shower area much easier to transport and install. Expanded glass is also more robust, saving precious millimetres of energy-intensive steel. A striking feature of the ISH 2025: like the Ahlen-based steel enamel company, more and more brands are striving to obtain the Cradle to Cradle Certified label, which recognises products for their closed material cycles – including Grohe and Laufen.
At Laufen, this also applies to all ceramic products manufactured in Gmunden. Since the end of 2023, these have been fired in an electrically heated tunnel kiln, the first of its kind in the world. The Roca Group, to which Laufen belongs, aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045. This fossil-free plant is just the beginning – and Yves Béhar’s Volta range of washbasins is proof of the concept, made from extra-fine ‘sapphire ceramics’ in which water flows in a spiral.
Multifunction, Colour and Material
There are also bathroom innovations that can be summarised under the heading ‘multifunctional’, such as Grohe’s Purefoam shower, which fascinates the visitors gathered around a test fountain. The technology and a special shampoo bottle are concealed in a separate unit next to the thermostat. The Niuo Duo bath from Kaldewei also has more than one function. Stefan Diez and his team have found the perfect minimalist form. The manufacturer’s design team has equipped it with a functional panel that can be used to control an ambient light, an infrared bath heater and the integrated ‘Sound Wave’ loudspeakers. Your favourite music is transmitted directly from the bath wall to the water.
Finally, when it comes to favourite colours and materials, the trend continues: white baths and washbasins are increasingly the exception in design-oriented bathrooms. Duravit presents its new Balcoon collection by Patricia Urquiola in an unusual caramel colour. Bette is putting its new Salvia colour at the centre of its trade fair presence. And Hewi is dipping its classic Care range in an exciting pink – including a licensing collaboration with Barbie to emphasise the timeless diversity of both brands. While fittings and ceramics brands have long since become full-range suppliers and, like Hansgrohe and Villeroy & Boch, offer bathroom furniture with tactile surfaces, Burgbad – synonymous with playing with colour – is reorganising its range of surfaces. Besau-Marguerre has developed, discarded and added to a material and colour library for the company to help planners and customers make confident and coherent decisions. After all, the bathroom is not just about saving water, it is also about long-term relaxation and enjoyment.
Heat Transfer Remains Bland
Not all areas of the ISH can keep up with this aesthetic standard. In the halls for heating and hot water systems, for example, the picture is still one of grey and anthracite boxes. Heat pumps, the word of the moment, can be measured in terms of reduced noise levels and the use of the more climate-friendly refrigerant R290 (better known as propane) – but certainly not in terms of design. The WKM Pro monoblock heat pump from Remko and the WLW MBE+ AR outdoor unit from Buderus are among the more attractive models. If you want to heat a densely built-up area with a heat pump, the Chinese company Midea offers the H-Pack. The compact indoor unit can be installed space-savingly and unobtrusively in the utility room and integrated into the existing heating system as a hybrid. Only two openings are visible, either on the facade or as a chimney on the pitched roof leading to the outside.
The Compress Hybrid 5800i G system from Bosch is clever. Initially installed as a gas condensing boiler, it can be gradually upgraded to a hybrid system with an external heat pump unit or to a fully-fledged heat pump. A conversion to hydrogen operation is even planned from 2029. You never know which direction the technologies of tomorrow will take. The only certainty is that there won’t be a bright future without a drastic reduction in resource consumption – even colourful, pampering bathrooms won’t change that.
About the Author
Markus Hieke is a freelance journalist and author specialising in interior/product design and architecture. With a background in communication design, he started writing in 2013 and has since established himself in renowned German and international trade and consumer media. His mission is to make design accessible to a broad audience through portraits, interviews and background reports on protagonists and topics ranging from craftsmanship to circularity, even when they are out of the limelight.
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