Let’s start by looking at who this designer is. The source is Wikipedia: “Matteo Thun was born in Bolzano in 1952 and is the first son of the South Tyrolean entrepreneurial family Thun (Lene and Otmar von Thun und Hohenstein). His younger brother Peter took over the management of Thun AG in 1978. Matteo Thun studied at the Salzburg Academy with Oskar Kokoschka and graduated in architecture in 1975 from the University of Florence. In 1978 he moved to Milan where he met Ettore Sottsass, and in 1981 he co-founded Sottsass Associati and the Memphis Group. In 1984 he established his own studio and worked for Swatch as art director from 1990 to 1993. From 1983 to 2000, he was a professor of design and ceramics at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 2001 he founded Matteo Thun + Partners, a multicultural architecture and design studio based in Milan with a branch in Shanghai. The company operates internationally and has been developing hospitality, residential, headquarters, retail, urban design, and master planning projects for over 20 years. Together with his partner Antonio Rodriguez and a team of 70 experts in architecture, design, and communication, he designs from micro to macro, following an interdisciplinary approach.”
Catalano Ceramica MUSE Series
(Year 2007) Let’s start with Thun’s description on his website: “Designed by Matteo Thun & Antonio Rodriguez. A mix of historical memory and technological know-how, this collection features smooth lines drawing on a form of classicism in tune with the present. It includes floor-standing, wall-mounted, and top-mounting washbasins and all other sanitary ceramics for the bathroom.” We have already discussed this in the post: ”Unique (special) shapes and their toilet seats: Muse, Fiorile, Memory”, We will include an integral passage to explain why Muse and its toilet seat also belong to the unique shapes category: “Today we will see series of sanitary ware that we consider to have unique and difficult-to-imitate shapes. We have already seen in other posts that a ceramics company often creates a shape, and others follow, imitating it, modifying proportions and measurements, and the sanitary series is then presented to the market. The series we see in this post could have easily played the role of a style trailblazer, but for a number of reasons (practical artisanal/production difficulties (competitors can’t perform certain processes), competition distracted by other projects, etc.), it didn’t happen, and they remained unique. They all became an integral part of the history of bathroom furnishings and best sellers of the period in which they were produced. In this category, besides the Muse series by Catalano Ceramica, the Fiorile Ideal Standard and the Memory Hidra Ceramiche are also included.”
In our opinion, Thun has created almost a sculpture and not a simple sanitary fixture (the free-standing washbasin in the series is also incredible). Looking at these fixtures, you get a sense of softness, reminiscent of a white sheet animated by the sea breeze. You have the feeling of something capable of embracing you without touching you. To create this shape, the Catalano master ceramists combined history and production technology. The original Muse toilet seat is still available in the Sintesibagno store [ clik HERE ] and a new PLUS extra-slim version with slow-motion hinges [ clik HERE ]
Catalano Ceramica ROMA Series
(Year 2005) A few years before Muse, Thun also designed the Roma series for Ceramica Catalano. Starting with a significant oval shape at the top, the sanitary fixture ended at the floor on a squared base with the imperial style typical of ancient Roman constructions. A wall-hung series was also available, but the stylistic content, although still very distinctive and recognizable, was somewhat lost. It was a toilet with significant dimensions (39 cm) and certainly suitable for large bathrooms. Its original toilet seat is still available in the Sintesibagno store at the following link [ clik HERE ].
Duravit Durastyle Series
(Year 2013) With this series, there is a stylistic and geometric shift by the designer. The soft, curved lines of Muse and Roma are abandoned, and the direction is taken toward the rectangle, which is still softened at the front corners by a slight curve and a slight inclination in the upper part of the sanitary fixture. The Duravit company website describes this series as follows: “Individuality is fundamental. Individuality does not mean making an impression by any means. A discreet environment allows personality to reveal and express itself freely. Like DuraStyle, the bathroom series designed by Matteo Thun & Partners, which appears deliberately discreet and thus fits harmoniously into any environment.” The original Durastyle toilet seat is available in the Sintesibagno store at the following link [ clik HERE ].
Toilet Seat (Shower toilet, Aquaclean Sela for Geberit)
Here there is no need to talk about the sanitary fixture to also look at the toilet seat. With the Sela project for Geberit, Thun brings technology to an incredibly simple but always useful object. To see objects of this kind before, we had to travel to Japan (where, due to needs related to reduced space in every area of social life, they had to give up the bidet, and yet, it seems, not personal hygiene). With Sela, electronic toilet seats are also establishing themselves in Europe. I leave you the link to the Geberit website to learn more about the countless technical features of this toilet seat. The product is available in the Sintesibagno store at the following link [ clik HERE ].
We have seen the ceramic series designed by Matteo Thun and their toilet seats. If you are still in doubt about which toilet seat to look for for the toilet you have in the bathroom, we suggest you send us an email to info@sintesibagno.it or a WhatsApp message to the number +39 3341288978 with two images of your sanitary fixture and a few measurements, and we will be able to help you choose the toilet seat. Here is the video on how to proceed with the search for the toilet seat:
