Toilet and kitchen fixtures may not be the most glamorous parts of our homes, but they’re certainly among the most essential. The range of such products on the market has also become more varied over the years, with a wave of new-age, high-tech fixtures that go beyond the standard showers and toilets that we grew up with.

At the top end of the fixtures scene in Singapore are brands such as Japanese sanitaryware label Inax and Grohe from Germany. Both are brands under the Lixil Group, which was established in 2011 as the result of a merger among five of Japan’s biggest building materials and housing companies at the time. Today, Lixil’s portfolio also includes other global brands such as American Standard and Tostem, which specialises in doors and windows.

Interactive areas at the LEC include one where shoppers can try a range of Grohe shower heads. Photo: Lixil

Heading the group’s work in the city-state is Koh Fu Sheng, country leader for Singapore at Lixil Water Technology. Options spoke with Koh at the official launch of the Lixil Experience Centre (LEC) on Joo Chiat Road, to find out about the space and his thoughts on what’s next in the toilet and kitchen fixtures scene.

More than ‘look and feel’

Though he’s been at Lixil for over a decade now, Koh thinks there’s yet to be a major evolution in the industry. “I feel that 12 years ago, when I first joined this company, the landscape was exactly the same as it is today,” he quips. 

Koh: People don’t know what they don’t know... It’s up to us to share the possibilities. Photo: Lixil

One key point that is lacking, in Koh’s view, is an update to the way consumers shop. Discovering that many showrooms were not showing the full capabilities of their products, Lixil realised it needed a bigger space that could accommodate better, more robust displays. “We realised that the typical shopping experience was all about look and feel,” Koh says of the usual showroom experience. “You just had a few hand showers, but you didn’t get to see everything.”

Driven by its experience in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business retail over the years, the company conceptualised the LEC. Prior to this, it had a showroom in Shaw Centre, followed by one in Mohamed Sultan Road during the pandemic. 

The new building, which spans some 11,000 sq ft, features spaces that have been designed to showcase Lixil’s American Standard, Grohe and Inax brands. It follows similar concepts by the group in Bangkok, Jakarta and Bandung. Koh shares that another is set to be launched in Hanoi soon; he adds that this is part of a global direction by the company to have LECs in key areas, which can help it better cater to the local markets.

Spaces throughout the LEC have been curated to showcase the product capabilities of Lixil’s brands. Photo: Lixil

Lixil’s Asia-Pacific leader, Audrey Yeo, says these centres are “an important platform to inspire ongoing conversations and purposeful solutions”, particularly surrounding issues of health, well-being, sustainability, and urbanisation.

To build on what it saw as a need for an enhanced way to shop, Lixil designed the LEC with an eye on providing a “complete experience”. Live experiences are made possible through interactive areas that allow consumers to not only touch but also use the various products on display. The space has been thoughtfully designed so consumers can get an understanding of how the products would work in an actual home. 

In one area, for example, one can try out a whole range of Grohe shower heads — without fear of getting wet, of course. Koh tells us that a Grohe shower will also be available for public booking in due course so people can try it out for themselves, free of charge.

Antoine Besseyre des Horts, Lixil Global Design’s Asia leader, says the Singapore space was curated to “provide inspiration, show water in its many forms, and illustrate how [Lixil’s] three power brands offer unique solutions across multiple categories to cater to the needs and aspirations of audiences with different lifestyles”.

Such a setup has already proven to be a hit among consumers, says Koh. At Lixil’s previous showrooms, shoppers would often opt to explore on their own, because there wasn’t much to actually do, he notes. “In this showroom, 80% of customers want our assistance the moment they step in … It’s [allowing for] much more quality engagement; customers come in, they want to see more and they want to learn more.”

On the choice to have the LEC in Joo Chiat, Koh says the neighbourhood is an “up-and-coming” locale. “It’s really buzzing as a centre for design and eccentricity,” he says, noting that more have started coming to the area “looking for things that are on trend”. The location also offers a “unique and differentiated sensory experience”, he adds, with the scale of the LEC itself providing a good backdrop for collaboration and events.

More functions, my way

Asked about how consumers’ preferences have changed over the years, Koh reiterates some of the trends brought up by Yeo. 

A private shower room at the LEC will be available for public booking, free of charge. Photo: Lixil

First, on health and well-being, he notes that self-care has taken centre stage since the pandemic. “People are much more conscious [of the need to] take care of themselves,” he adds. Taking the growing prevalence of water filtration systems and anti-bacterial coatings as examples, he flags that though the booms have been relatively recent, “it doesn’t mean people didn’t need them before”.

Along the same vein, high-tech showers have also become more popular. Instead of the wall-hung water heater units that were commonplace in the 2000s and 2010s, more homeowners are now opting for fancier systems, with increased capabilities such as thermostatic functions that make finding the right temperature for a shower a breeze. 

Koh notes that such systems improve liveability and comfort. It comes down to optimisations like not having to fumble with the hot and cold water knobs in the shower before actually getting wet; such improvements, though seemingly small, can have a big impact on the day-to-day experience that people have at home.

On this note, Koh points out another area that has received greater attention in recent years: personalisation. As more homeowners seek out functions that are attuned to their needs, they also need products that can accommodate such specificities. Some are also looking for fixtures that match the aesthetics of their homes, to create a seamless look throughout their spaces.

Meeting these emerging needs in the market has not been an easy task. “We actually invested in local warehouse operations in Singapore three years ago, to appeal to this increasing demand from customers,” says Koh.

To catch up with a growing desire for visual cohesion at home, Lixil’s brands create their products in a range of colours that are tonally and materially matched, so there isn’t a difference in the hues of one product versus another. The Grohe Spa Atrio Private collection of bathroom fixtures, for instance, comes with 12 different handle options. Grohe Spa is the premium sub-brand of Grohe, dealing in high-quality, highly customisable bathroom fittings, some of which incorporate 3D printing and other innovations. 

While Koh admits that dealing with such a large number of options and choices presents a “logistical nightmare”, he says Lixil is committed to making it work. “It’s not efficient for the company, but we have to,” he adds, noting that increasingly, consumers are no longer staying satisfied with “something standard”.

When it comes to the technical side of things, Koh says the company is also incorporating greater flexibility in its products. Grohe Spa’s offerings, for one, “can be personalised, with different combinations of showers, water jets, lighting and music tracks to create a truly individual spa experience for restoration, recovery or indulgence”. 

Going green

Of course, no discussion on change and growth in an industry would be complete without some talk on sustainability. Koh notes that consumers in Singapore have certainly become more aware of climate change and the need for more efficient products at home. Still, he notes, the demand for sustainable products here lags that in other markets, such as Europe.

In 2023, the average Singaporean used about 141 litres of water at home per day, according to national water agency PUB. Of this, about 30% — over 40 litres — was used in the shower alone. It should come as no surprise, then, that switching to more sustainable toilet and kitchen fixtures is a big first step in the drive towards reducing water waste.

“It’s inevitable, really,” says Koh of the industry going green. “If you ask any product manager in a respectable company, sustainability would definitely be one of their key concerns.” 

American Standard’s toilets, for instance, come with a “Double Vortex” flushing function, which uses 4 litres for a full flush; this is less than half the amount needed by the least efficient water closets available in Singapore. Grohe has also created the Everstream shower, which consumes “only a quarter of the water and a third of the energy of a typical traditional shower”, according to its website. This comes by way of a system that treats used water for the next shower.

Such innovations speak to a broader shift towards higher-tech products, moving away from the tried-and-true, run-of-the-mill things we may be used to. Speaking on his thoughts about the future of toilet and kitchen fixtures, Koh expects things to continue evolving. He highlights the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence as factors that are likely to make their way into the industry in the coming years.

On consumers’ end, shopping for fixtures has never been an easy task. For one, Koh points out, “people don’t know what they don’t know”, so it’s common to see homeowners missing out considerations such as compatibility of products across brands. 

And amid all the changes — both present and impending — that are set to transform the industry, that list of unknowns is set to grow. “No one is an expert in toilets, except those of us who work with them every day,” Koh says with a laugh. That distinction, he continues, comes with a duty to guide others so they have a clearer view of what they can get at home. 

Koh circles back to the LEC’s raison d’etre: to serve as a platform to better show off what’s available in the market. “It’s up to us to share the possibilities,” he adds.

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