Sanitary ware manufacturers have always tried to break away from standard shapes (oval, elliptical, etc.) and explore new stylistic paths. The result is a series of sanitary ware with the strangest and most incredible shapes, some with special sizes, others with unique colours and decorations and others with ceramic workmanship worthy of an artistic work.
In this article we are not going to make critical assessments, we are not going to say this sanitary ware is beautiful or that one is ugly. The series must be contextualised in the era in which they were produced and therefore we do not want to express judgements that are clearly influenced by current trends. Our intention is to make everyone participate in the history of the Italian ceramic sector, which is capable of great productive mastery and above all creative genius. Many of these sanitary ware were made in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and of each of them Sintesibagno and its store is still able to offer you the practically perfect toilet seat.
Sanitaryware in strange shapes and ceramic workmanship + their toilet covers.
Let’s start by looking at these sanitary ware series, which are characterised by workmanship in their bodies. You only have to look at the pictures of these WCs and bidets to understand what production ability and craftsmanship our ceramic companies have. They have succeeded in modelling the ceramic element as if it were a block of stone (marble), giving it extremely accurate embroidery. Here we see the Romantica series by Catalano, an imposing series also in terms of dimensions, its toilet seat is 50 cm long and 39.5/40 cm wide with a 19 cm wheelbase, you can find it at this link [ open LINK ]
But let’s look at where it all started. It was back in 1958 when, based on a design by Antonia Campi, a small company called Lavenite (which over time became the great industry we all know as Pozzi Ginori) started producing the Torena series. A revolution in materials and colours! It could not miss in the store the toilet seat of this series, you can find it at this link [ open LINK ]
From 1965 the Conchiglia series (image source), also designed by Antonia Campi, is maybe the most iconic of the type and achieved good sales success for that period. It was even reproposed in the Pozzi Ginori catalogue of 1980. Very particular is the decoration with intertwining plants on the base of the toilet and the wavy lines of the cistern. Its hard-to-find toilet seat can be found in the store at this link [ open LINK ]
Also from the 1950s and 1960s were sanitary ware from a ceramic company that was very popular on the market at the time. It was Astra Ceramics, which offered incredibly crafted ceramic series, both in the body of the bowl and in the upper part. The WCs had an imperial style typical of the atmosphere of ancient Rome and Versailles.
They were called: Pantheon Series and Versailles Series.
Both WC seats are available in the store at this link [ open LINK ]
To conclude this category, we would like to show you a much more recent series, precisely to underline the fact that ceramic manufacturers tend to reintroduce these products on the market from time to time. This series was produced until recently by Eos Ceramica and was called Riace, in the store at this link [ open LINK ]
Sanitaryware where the strange shape is in the upper part of the top + their toilet covers
Let’s start with what I consider to be the legend of the “strange shapes” category. The Dolomite Zagara series sanitary ware. If it weren’t for the intended use of the object, it could be mistaken for a cubist work of art. The unmistakable and unique upper part is marked by three straight sides and a rounded front part with a small notch at the beginning of the curve. The body of the sanitary ware is sharp-edged with clean 90° angles, but the genius of the Dolomite creatives was the slight inclination in the direction of the person using the sanitary ware, which not only slims down the figure of the object but also makes it easy and comfortable to use. Such a “work of art” deserved an equally particular toilet seat, I show it to you in the following video [ open VIDEO ]. The Dolomite Zagara WC seats are available in the Sintesibagno store at this link [ open LINK ]
Let’s start now to see the toilets which need toilet seats with particular carvings. Certainly one of the first ones presented on the market was the Carena model produced by Cidneo. A small revolution, in the back part of the toilet bowl there were two lowerings at the sides, as you can see in the picture here on the side the toilet seat followed the profile leaving the central part uncovered and it needed a fixing that moved horizontally. The original toilet seat is still available at this link [ open LINK ]
This sanitary ware is said to be the one that inspired the Carena designers (just seen), it was called Ansa and was produced by Ideal Standard. The difference, beyond the shape of the sanitary, is that instead of a drop, there is a rise.
The toilet seat for its anchorage also needs a horizontal fixing.
Clearly available in the store at this link [ open LINK ]
Another sanitary fixture characterised by changes in the depth of the upper surface is the Cadore series produced by GSI Facis. In this model the characteristic is a lowering of the top of the toilet seat from about 1/3 from the back of the toilet. You will need a made-to-measure toilet seat which you can find at this link [ open LINK ]
Have you ever heard of WCs that function as bidets? I think so, the incredible thing is that they seem to be a very recent proposal, but in fact Simas ceramics had already proposed it over 30 years ago, it was called, or rather is called since it is still in production Synthesis / Synthesis series. The ingenious idea of the Civita Castellana ceramists was to extend the length of the toilet bowl in order to create a space to house the practical hand shower, which could be removed from its seat and easily used when necessary. In order to be able to install a toilet seat on a toilet bowl with such a special hand shower, we needed a perfectly cut and shaped toilet seat. You can see it in the picture on the right and you can find it in the Sintesibagno shop at this link [ open LINK ]
It could be that we have in our bathroom one of the sanitary ware among those we have just seen (but we are not sure) or another model not present here and we can not understand what it is, the advice of the Sintesibagno staff is to use the service to find the toilet seat without wasting time and money as explained in the following video.
