WASHROOM HYGIENE
acknowledges the fact that Van Gogh was forced to use creativity to escape his mental health issues – as many people had to do during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
However, artistic toilets are by no means simply a lockdown phenomenon. One particularly celebrated example of toilet art emerged back in 1999 when eccentric architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser designed a block of iconic washrooms in a remote area of New Zealand’s North Island.
Decorated exclusively with the use of recycled materials such as bricks, tiles, bottles and scraps of steel, concrete and copper, the Northland washrooms feature colourful mosaics and now still attract 250,000 visitors annually.
There is also an ongoing trend to brighten up the washrooms of airports with paintings and photographs of local scenes to celebrate the city in which they are situated. For example, one washroom at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is decorated with city landmarks as well as beach scene murals, a mock lighthouse and a picket fence.
And the washrooms of JFK Airport are decorated with graphics of iconic New York City landmarks that offset the facilities’ bright white terrazzo flooring, marble walls and delicate wall sconces.
The US has been an advocate of artistic and attractive washrooms for some time. Art and innovation have been celebrated for the past 20 years via the nation’s America’s Best Restroom contest.
This year’s finalists included the women’s toilets at a South Carolina gym which feature a spray-painted mural as a backdrop for selfies, plus the iconic washrooms at Two Cities Pizza in Cincinnati, Ohio. Despite being more than 600 miles from the Big Apple the toilets have been designed to resemble a New York City subway station complete with platform, train car and graffiti on the walls.
It could be argued that artistic installations and attractive murals are irrelevant in a public facility that simply needs to be clean, hygienic and functional. But aesthetically pleasing washroom installations arouse attention and create a talking point, which in turn generates publicity and attracts more customers. And it seems that people like their toilets to be easy on the eye.
One Essity survey revealed that 90% of people felt the washroom played an important role in their overall impression of a hospitality facility, for example. A total of 67% of respondents in the study said they felt an attractively-designed washroom made their hotel or restaurant experience more pleasant. And 42% of diners said they would always prefer to eat at a restaurant where the loos had been attractively designed.
This is the rationale behind our own upmarket, aesthetically-pleasing washroom range. Tork Image Design Line dispensers are designed to provide washrooms with a ‘wow factor’ with their brushed stainless steel fascias and sleek black trim.
The range includes an elegantly curved Tork Xpress Interfold Hand Towel Dispenser; a Tork Jumbo Toilet Roll
www.tomorrowsfm.com
unit, and manual and sensor-operated versions of the Tork Foam Soap dispenser. And to provide a cohesive washroom look the line also includes a stainless steel tissue box, a stylish bin and matching coat hooks.
However, an attractive décor should never be provided at the expense of hygiene - and our survey confirmed this. Around 80% of survey respondents said they believed a dirty restaurant washroom was likely to be a reflection of the kitchen standards, while more than 75% said they would not return to a restaurant that had a dirty washroom. And 25% said they would actually walk out of a venue if they found the washroom to be unsanitary.
But while art in the washroom is ultimately unnecessary, its value should not be overlooked. The average British person spends the equivalent of eight months of their adult life in the washroom, according to studies. And this time will obviously be passed more pleasantly in attractive surroundings.
So hopefully the artistic washroom is here to stay. And if washroom providers everywhere decide to up their game and compete with each other to come up with attractive, iconic and attention-grabbing washrooms, standards will improve worldwide - and every nation will be able to boast public toilets to be proud of.
www.tork.co.uk/safeatwork TOMORROW’S FM | 57
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
