Cosmic was founded in Barcelona in 1985 as a manufacturer of bathroom accessories. Its commitment to international expansion and its partnership with Grupo Roca in 2008 have made it become one of Europe’s leading purveyors of complete bathroom ranges.
Today Cosmic creates stimulating, relaxing, comfortable bathroom environments. Ultimately, Cosmit responds to the needs of consumers whose lifestyles place great store by good design and innovation.
What’s more, Cosmic is wholeheartedly committed to design management. It collaborates with well-known designers and architects, such as Javier Mariscal, Ricard Ferrer, Martín Azúa, Miguel de Mas, Xavier Claramunt, Gerard Moliné, Àlex Armenter and Carles Ferruz. These collaborations have resulted in it scooping various prizes, notably the Prince Philip Designers Prize in 2003, the highest honour to be granted in Spain to the business sector, and the Design Plus award for its furniture collection Block, given in 2007, as well as for the washbasin furniture collection Flow of 2009, and various prizes for its branding campaigns.
Cosmic has had a showroom in Barcelona since 2008. We interviewed the company to get to know more about its career and projects:
Interiors From Spain: Cosmic started out as a bathroom accessories company. What drove its founders to devote themselves to this area? How did the company evolve into offering more internationally appealing products?
Cosmic: Cosmic was founded by Salvador Edgar Martí, whose main focus was on the design and manufacture of bathroom accessories which were totally innovative in terms of its features, design and warm qualities.
The way bathrooms have evolved in recent years and the needs which have arisen around this have resulted in this room increasingly assuming a much bigger role in the home. Fully aware of this change, at Cosmic we strive to make bathrooms spaces where we can give time to ourselves, and achieve a balance between body and spirit. This is our starting point for offering a complete scheme in which the sum total of various elements – accessories, bathroom fittings, washbasins, baths, shower trays and so on – adds up to a harmonious whole: a universal idea of the bathroom as a space that’s both practical and aesthetically pleasing and that delights all senses.
IFS: What significance has your partnership with Grupo Roca had for Cosmic?
Cosmic: The partnership has allowed us to pool our knowledge and take advantage of a synergy between us with the common objective of becoming global leaders in the world of bathroom fittings and accessories.
IFS: How is the research and development side of the business managed? How, for example, do you manage to incorporate materials such as Vit-tech in your latest collections?
Cosmic: We look out for similar concepts and materials in other kinds of products and sectors to see what possible applications they might have in our own designs. In order to do so, we go to trade fairs, exhibitions and look up articles about innovation. A good example is Simplex, one of our most iconic collections, which is made by rotational moulding normally used for the manufacture of hollow – usually plastic – moulds.
Another example, Vit-tech (vitrified steel), used in the manufacture of baths and shower trays, is a state-of-the-art material which is imporous, hygienic and hardwearing – it doesn’t weather over time. We’ve made a big effort to incorporate it into our designs, in terms of research and development. This has resulted in a new collection of strong, compact washbasins called Solid, as well as the expansion of our existing washbasin furniture collections, Block and Inside.
IFS: How do you see the company growing? Are you interested in working on projects and public areas?
Cosmic: We’re currently directing all our efforts at expanding the export side of the business to help position ourselves in new markets. This even involves designing specific product ranges to meet their different needs.
As for the contract market, for the past two years, we’ve had a division which specialises in finding global design solutions for building projects or refurbishment of hotels, private housing estates, housing developments and equipment for public spaces (in the cultural, sporting, institutional and health arenas). Professionals in those fields (architects, builders, engineers, designers, interior designers) find us an ideal partner – a specialist team who can also provide technical, industrial and logistical know-how. Among our most notable recent projects are the Hotel NH Rallye and Hotel Casa de Lenguas in Barcelona and Hotel Palacio Marqués de Caro in Valencia.
View video
