New Zealand architectural designer Natalie Bradburn developed an affinity for the bathroom while studying architecture at Auckland University. “I started directing any essay I could toward the topic, dissecting every aspect of the space and the politics around it” she says. “There was so much richness there, and I felt like it had been generally overlooked in favour of grander ideas and architectures. I loved how contained it was, that we all spend time in the space every day, and that there was an opportunity to design every detail down to the hand towel.”
One such detail that further sparked Bradburn’s desire to revolutionize the bathroom was a simple ceramic cup in her own bathroom. While the lovely little vessel adequately corralled her family’s toothbrushes, she noticed one day that the cup itself was rather dirty, having been collecting dried toothpaste and dust as much as storing the brushes and keeping their bristles dry.
“I took it on as a design brief and had a really good time thinking about what else it could be. I didn’t have a time limit on it and really enjoyed the process,” says Bradburn. That brainstorming and reimagining led to her first product – a specially designed shelf with slots for toothbrushes to hang.
Bradburn then went on to establish her own bathroom design and research studio CleanCleanClean in 2019, to continue exploring “the most complex room in the house.” Since then, she has been reimagining common bathroom accoutrements with simple lines and cheerfully bold colours and effectively dispelling the notion that a “clean” bathroom means a pristine all-white setting.
When it comes to the bathroom, she says, clean “has become synonymous with the space, and subsequently with white. If you can see the dirt, you can identify it and eliminate it. But bathroom detritus is … often white itself. Soap suds, toothpaste scum, saliva, germs, dust – the by-product is often white. I would argue that colourful bathrooms are cleaner because you can actually see the dirt,” she says.
Along with the original toothbrush shelf, CleanCleanClean now has a robust portfolio of bathroom products – from a two-tiered towel hook and sleek toilet roll holder to tubular towel racks and washbasins with an industrial edge – that can be customized for colour and size to meet personal tastes and needs.
Working primarily with aluminum – a material that one can “manipulate like butter,” doesn’t rust and is renewable, recyclable and reusable – Bradburn partners with local metal fabricators to bring her designs to life. “I love working with local manufacturers to share knowledge and experience,” she says of the collaborative nature of her studio (which also specializes in interior design and renovation projects), “I’m not a ‘maker’ myself, I’m a designer, and without these professions, I wouldn’t be able to make the things I do.”
The New Zealand designer is reimagining what “clean” means in the bathroom.