The bathroom is never an easy room to decorate as function plays a great part, but one cannot skimp on style. Space to work with is usually a minimum as very few dwellings are built with large bathrooms and most of the space in the home is reserved for living areas. Bathroom fittings are also not easy to choose as they are long term fixtures and their location is usually prescribed by where the relevant plumbed inlets and outlets are. The tone of the rest of the building also needs to be carried through, so relevant fittings have to be chosen.
Historically South Africa was considered as “behind” in the trends, and only the rich could afford to have stylish and modern bathroom fittings. The local bathroom appliances and fitments were very basic and the local bathroom appliance and fittings industry was not very well developed. Any bathroom fittings or appliances new on the market had to be imported from countries such as Italy or Denmark, and this was usually only the domain of the wealthy.
Things have subsequently changed in South Africa and there is a burgeoning local industry. South African bathroom appliance designers can design stunning yet functional appliances, and the quality of the workmanship in the manufacture of these bathroom fittings is very good. South Africa has a culture of pride in local workmanship and skill, and purchasing home fittings and accessories from a local designer has become very fashionable. Designers are now also in a position where they can custom design fittings for the client for a particular room.
However, just because these items are designed and produced locally does mean it is cheap! Quite often the status involved in getting designer bathroom fittings from a local designer carries a lot of status and can actually be a lot more expensive than importing the appliances and fittings from another country. The tailored items in particular cost a lot of money. It is now found that a lot of the cheaper items in South African bathroom stores are in fact imported, and not made locally.