Swiss bathroom brand Laufen has worked with designer Yves Béhar to craft the inaugural product made in a first-of-its-kind electric kiln at the brand’s factory: a water-saving washbasin, now on display at Milan design week.
The Béhar-designed Volta sink is made in Laufen‘s electric tunnel kiln, which the brand believes to be the first kiln of this type to be used in the bathroom sanitaryware industry.
Tunnel kilns are long kilns that heat objects continuously as they pass through on a production line, and Laufen replaced the gas version at its factory in Gmunden, Austria with a specially developed electric model in late 2023.
The factory uses electricity from renewable sources, making the use of the e-kiln a truly zero-emission process, according to the firm.
To mark the kiln’s successful implementation, Laufen turned to the Swiss-born, San Francisco-based Béhar, who is best known for his work with consumer technology and has never before designed a washbasin.
Béhar was given “carte blanche to create an icon”, according to Marc Viardot, marketing and design director of Roca Group, which owns Laufen.
“Inspired by the first CO2-free production in the world, Yves’ approach was very fresh and resulted in an unconventional new concept for the bathroom,” said Viardot. “It feels a bit like we reinvented the wheel – at least the way we relate to the daily use of water.”
Béhar said he wanted to allow people to feel a connection with water through the design.
“Water has been a central part of my life since I was a teenager,” he said. “From Lake Geneva where I grew up, to the seas and oceans where I have practised windsurfing, kitesurfing, and big wave surfing, water and its movement has always been physically and mentally crucial for me.”
“But I find that this magic is lost in our homes: we turn on the tap, and water disappears almost immediately into the drain.”
He and his team focused on the interior of the ceramic washbasin rather than the exterior to build this sense of magic, discovering that they could shape the basin to make the water rotate in a circular motion, with a pronounced “river-like” flow.
The shape brings water-saving benefits, Béhar said. With the outlet closed, the bottom portion of the sink can hold enough water for shaving or face washing without the whole basin having to be filled, and the movement of water also means that the sink cleans itself through use.
Béhar said that he hopes the design of Volta will help bring attention to electric kiln technology.
“My favourite saying that I use a lot in my work is that design accelerates the adoption of new ideas,” said Béhar. “The new idea of the electric kiln can be experienced in the way that it takes the force of the sun and turns it into power, while our ceramic designs show us the beauty and motion of water and creates an experience of nature in the home.”
The Volta sink debuted at trade fair ISH in Frankfurt in March and is now on show at the Laufen showroom at Milan design week.
Béhar is the founder and CEO of design studio Fuseproject. His past work includes the Samsung Frame TV, the Snoo crib and, more recently, the Kind Humanoid robot.
See our Milan design week 2025 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.
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