JEE-O: Award-Winning Dutch Design

Next month, all eyes will be on JEE-O as the Dutch manufacturer of tubs, sinks, faucets and showers takes home the 2016 German Design Award (Bath and Wellness category) for its Soho O1 freestanding shower design. The award, which is presented in Frankfurt, is only given to designs that have been nominated by a member of the jury and that have already won an international design award—the Soho shower took home the RedDot in 2014.

The Soho collection is comprised of freestanding showers (for indoor or outdoor use), wall- and ceiling-mounted showers, hand showers, and wall- or top-mounted mixers, and was created in collaboration with the Amsterdam-based interior and product design firm Grand & Johnson. (That’s Jeroom Jansen and Bertel Grote of Grand & Johnson with JEE-O founder Lammert Moerman on the right in the shot above.) The stainless steel designs offer an uber-industrial aesthetic made all the more powerful by their matte black hammer-coated finish. (One look at the images and it won’t surprise you to learn that JEE-O also manufactures a line of super cool bicycles.) The line was named for the New York City neighborhood, which the designers looked to for inspiration: industrial lofts, austerity and grit—a dynamic melting pot of culture and style. But there’s also a definite sense of adventure thanks to the one-move, rubber-coated handle mechanism that looks more like a joystick than a faucet.