Story by Vira Tanka | Photos by LIXIL Group and Indonesia Design
American Standard has led the way in developing innovative bath and kitchen products for over a century. They have filled homes with their pioneering, inviting and dependable sanitary wares. Now part of LIXIL, the brand has grown phenomenally across the world and never stops improving. Earlier this year, American Standard unveiled a new brand identity, which was launched at the American Standard Trade Event, along with the launch of a new collection. Indonesia Design attended the insightful event, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand, from 13-15 February 2023.
THE NEW BRAND IDENTITY
American Standard has been focusing on making life simpler by designing products that fit seamlessly into people’s routine. The brand keeps raising the bar in delivering dependable bathroom solutions in various places, from houses, hotels, to colleges and stadiums. Their products are easy to use, easy to clean, as well as kids and elderly proof, which is the result of listening to the needs and challenges faced by people in day-to-day life.
Their mission is to enable its customers to create a home that they will love every day. From there, they build the new brand claim of “LIFE.LOVE.HOME” and the American Standard brand visuals that use the colour red, which implies love and passion. It aims to evoke a closer emotional affinity with customers.
The launch of American Standard’s new brand identity was celebrated alongside over 200 invited guests comprising architects, interior designers, distributors and media from across Asia Pacific region. Leader of Global Design, Asia LIXIL Antoine Besseyre des Horts communicated the new American Standard logo. “The brand has been expressed differently in various parts of the world. Now we have one logo,” he said. “Design identity is a very strong tool because it helps to communicate our brand promise and to convey the emotional and practical benefits in the brand’s product offerings. It also helps us create a very unified look and feel of the product,” he added.
THE BRAND-NEW COLLECTION
A new American Standard collection was launched at the event, it’s called Loven, which derived from the word love. Targeted for millennials and Gen-Z who are starting their new family life, the collection’s design is timeless and provides convenience and comfort. The fact that the products are pragmatic and practical is important for these young families with children and most parents are working full time.
“When we designed the products, we considered those facts. They may look simple but a lot of thinking went into the way we crafted every single detail of a product,” Antoine explained. The collection was part of an immersive experience that connected an introduction video with live action where the actors presented the new collection in real world sets. This was followed by a product and technology brand live experience that showcased American Standard innovations such as the EasyFLOTM faucet that is intuitive to use and saves water by having a very practical button to turn it on and off, EasySETTM auto temperature mixer for the shower, Sensor Flush that only needs a wave to make it flush, DuoSTiXTM hygiene spray that was purposefully designed for cleansing and cleaning rituals thanks to a bi-directional and removable cap, and more.
DESIGN FORUM
The American Standard Trade Event also included a design forum called the American Standard Design Catalyst L!VE (ASDC L!VE), where design and marketing leaders from LIXIL as well as a few other select interior designers and architects shared their thoughts around health and wellness, circular and sustainable living, as well as intelligent spaces.
Corey Damen Jenkins, a New York-based interior designer who’s known for bold mix of vivid colours in his works, stated in his presentation that colours have always been a part of human’s life and can dramatically affect moods, feelings and emotions. It can even influence physical reaction such as our blood pressure and metabolism. The forum also featured Satoshi Konagai, Leader of LIXIL Water Technology, APAC, Yanuar PF, an Indonesian architect and founder of Aaksen Responsible Aarchitecture, Cathy Saldana, president of PDP Architects, Manila, and many more.
MORE FOR THE GUESTS
The aforementioned series of event took place in Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC). Other than that, invited guests were taken out for sightseeing around Bangkok city. One of the most interesting places we visited was the King Power Mahanakhon building where tourists and locals would go up to its skywalk to watch the sunset. And another memorable activity was having dinner on a boat while cruising through Chao Praya.