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Andreas Dornbracht: cleaning up the bathroom accessories industry.

German bathroom fittings and accessory firm Dornbracht has been working in the hospitality sector since the 1980s when it started to explore market potential in the United States and the Far East, but it has only recently started to move its operation into the Middle Eastern market.

"We produce mostly bathroom taps and accessories, but very importantly also shower systems," explains the firm's managing director, Andreas Dornbracht.

"We founded our office in Dubai at the beginning of this year - Dornbracht Middle East. We've started with four people and are going to expand over the next few years, certainly with the focus on exploring the potential in the hospitality industry," he says.

The role of the staff at the new office is to talk to hotel management companies, the general investor or the planning contractor and to make sure that from the point of specification to the installation and into the later stages of a project, including the maintenance, everything runs smoothly.

"It's not only to sell the product but to make sure that the installation is done right and maintenance is doing the right thing," explains Dornbracht.

Despite this foray into the Middle East and a determination to bring its services to the region's hospitality industry, Dornbracht is proud to be a German company, with all products made in Germany.

"We have no plans for a factory in the Middle East. With our brand the made in Germany label is very important, as we are the market leader in the premium segment worldwide. I think this goes together very well:premium and made in Germany," says Dornbracht.

Producing these quality bathroom products for the hospitality industry is very different from catering for the residential market, because a hotel room potentially has a new occupant every day of the week, explains Dornbracht.

"There is a need to have the product self-explanatory, because a user in a residential unit would learn how to work the product after one or two days, however in the hotel it has to be immediate," he says.

The sheer number of people using the products also means that durability is a major issue, and that encourages hotels in the Middle East to turn towards European suppliers who adhere to much stricter guidelines than firms in the region.

"Customers in the Middle East market gravitate towards European standards, but I also think durability becomes an even more important factor in the Middle East. The demand for quality of products has increased over the last 12-18 months," says Dornbracht.

"Definitely the innovative design and innovative features [are also appealing], such as the RainSky, which is a big shower installed in the ceiling which we developed and offer as a product of interest, especially for top hotel companies."

And Dornbracht says that the Middle East market is changing; where once it was price oriented it is now putting more emphasis on purchasing quality products for the hospitality sector, although the style required is a little bit different - more ornate and decorative than it is purist and minimalist.

He adds that there is a trend in bathroom design showing that people's rituals are becoming a major factor for bathroom architecture. His firm is now thinking of how to communicate this to the trade and to the end user.

"To take a shower is not just to clean yourself, but to relax and rejuvenate. The aim is to make them aware that this is so important to the user of a bathroom and therefore we developed a lot of bathroom architecture which reflects the rituals," Dornbracht says.

"All this ritual orientated architecture is becoming more and more important than the product design itself."

Dornbracht explains that his firm's speciality is to deal with the medium of water, to "regulate, design and enrich water with certain functions".

"We don't only design the tap which is delivering the water but also we design how the water is being delivered from a tap or a shower or whatever," he says.

And the firm doesn't just deliver products from a catalogue; it recommends certain details in regard to the installation, for example in the shower it advises what the height of the valves should be, offering an all-round service to ensure that the most is made of its products.

The firm is working with the Al Bustan Palace in Oman during its renovation, as well as the Dubai Mall Hotel, due for completion next year, and will also attend Dubai's Hotel Show in 2008.

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