NOA outdoor living NOA outdoor living
Plan your experience (required)
25 October 2023 | Theme story

Luxury gets personal

How will the future of bathroom design in the luxury segment evolve globally? Because customization is a sign of the time, and sustainability is one of the significant challenges for the future. And how will bespoke design and luxurious products stand out?

Oona Horx Strathern, International speaker, trend expert, and author, points out the ’individualisation trend’ as a central theme. We live in an individualized society. Luxury had to individualize and shift away from the masses. It is more about expressing our identity and personality through design and customization. But even more critical, luxury is not meant as a status symbol to the outside world anymore, but in the sense of what it does for you, this is one of the major shifts, she says. It’s an expression of what your values and life goals are.

The bathroom is one of her favorite themes she often speaks and writes about. It is a very private and intimate place. She describes future bathroom design as a ‘spa-throom’, about merging a spa and a bathroom on how we will invest more in this place.

Are you curious about how trend expert Oona H.S. designed her bathroom?

Indulging ourselves in our ‘spa-throoms’

The bathroom of her future house she conceived as a salon, wholly decorated, as a boudoir, in the French sense of way. She designed it as a sitting room, a low-tech, high-quality, individualized, and fully customized. No tiles are involved in this room, but there is wallpaper on the walls and curtains for the windows, and the room has a carpet and a wooden floor. It’s a bathroom that is much more than a bathroom; a ‘spa-throom’. It is not a wellness space but a ‘selfness space’, as Oona H.S. calls it.

Responsible desire is vital

Sustainability is a big important theme for the future, as it concerns all generations. Oona H.S. uses 'Responsible desire' or' Positive luxury’ when we are bringing together the idea of consumption and sustainability - which looks almost contradictory. But when we look to luxury through the lens of sustainability, on how we can use resources, she says. Clients want future brands, especially in the luxury segment, to be sustainable. The idea is that we can buy luxury products and be sustainable at the same time; we can indulge ourselves and be ecological at the same time. This idea is just at the beginning, ready to unfold and develop further.

Blissful Experience ... Blending nature with outdoor living & wellness

Located on top of a hill lies the transformed holiday home COL38. This place, housed in a former hotel in a green area of 6000 m2, is an ideal base for outdoor enthusiasts.

The name ‘COL38’, which means hill, alludes to cycling because the Flemish Ardennes and the Kemmelberg have always been an authentic attraction for cycling fans.

The holiday home has every comfort and modern technology (COL38.com). As a true asset, a luxurious sauna cabin, ‘Eclipse’, was installed in the garden. It allows guests, mainly cyclists and hikers, a blissful moment of relaxation. A sauna session is also excellent for the respiratory system and skin, as it turns out. The rear wall of the sauna has salt stones from the Himalayan region.

The ‘Eclipse’ design series received the “ESPA Innovation Award 2022” and was honored with the “Innovative Spa Products Award” category.

Flexible and Green Sauna ‘Eclipse’ is a cylindrical, made-to-measure outdoor cabin with a diameter of 250 cm (up to 360 cm), possibly integrating mood light, relaxation areas, and a changing room. Performed with exterior cladding made of Corten steel, a material often used in architecture and landscape design for its durability.

Info and reservations: The holiday home has 14 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and welcomes guests up to 30 people. The property is quietly located next to the forest ‘Kluisbos’. COL38, Bergstraat 38, 9690 Kluisbergen, Belgium - COL38.com

About NOA:

NOA outdoor living is an experience park for outdoor design in Kruisem. In the theme gardens, you can find inspiration to decorate your garden. These gardens combine architecture, landscape, and interior, and welcome architects, landscape architects, designers, and contractors as well as private prospects. In this inspiration park, you will find luxurious garden furniture and designs by more than 30 high-end partners, who are happy to advise you as you bring your dream garden to life. Moreover, the park is the perfect professional networking location; the conference rooms, covered patio, spacious showroom, and plaza of NOA outdoor living are the ideal setting for your conference, product presentation, or product launch.

Plan your outdoor experience