• Latest
Samuel Ross for Kohler: Disrupting Design Norms

Samuel Ross for Kohler: Disrupting Design Norms

August 1, 2024
The Woman in Cabin 10 with Keira Knightley Premieres in October

The Woman in Cabin 10 with Keira Knightley Premieres in October

August 26, 2025
Interior Trends That Attract Buyers Most on the First Viewing

Interior Trends That Attract Buyers Most on the First Viewing

August 26, 2025
Rosé Brings Her Vision to Life with Her First PUMA Collection

Rosé Brings Her Vision to Life with Her First PUMA Collection

August 26, 2025
Sharon Stone Leads Antonio Marras Fall Winter 2025

Sharon Stone Leads Antonio Marras Fall Winter 2025

August 26, 2025
Jordan 5 Fire Red Returns Next Month

Jordan 5 Fire Red Returns Next Month

August 26, 2025
Audi Q3 Expands with Hybrid Range and Fresh Features

Audi Q3 Expands with Hybrid Range and Fresh Features

August 26, 2025
Chloé Unveils Winter 2025 Campaign by David Sims

Chloé Unveils Winter 2025 Campaign by David Sims

August 26, 2025
Supreme Unveils Fall Winter 2025 Collection with Expansive Range

Supreme Unveils Fall Winter 2025 Collection with Expansive Range

August 26, 2025
Matières Fécales FW25 Campaign Finds Home in Place Vendôme

Matières Fécales FW25 Campaign Finds Home in Place Vendôme

August 26, 2025
Moise Kean Joins GUESS JEANS as Face of Fall 2025 Campaign

Moise Kean Joins GUESS JEANS as Face of Fall 2025 Campaign

August 26, 2025
Molly Hatch’s Disruption: Pattern, Power, and Perspective

Molly Hatch’s Disruption: Pattern, Power, and Perspective

August 25, 2025
Palace x HIM Channel Love Metal With Tri-Gram Capsule

Palace x HIM Channel Love Metal With Tri-Gram Capsule

August 25, 2025
DSCENE
  • LATEST
  • FASHION
    • Ad Campaigns
    • Collections
      • Spring Summer 2026 Womenswear
      • Spring Summer 2026 Menswear
      • Fall Winter 2025.26 Womenswear
      • Fall Winter 2025.26 Menswear
      • Pre-Fall 2025 Collections
      • Spring Summer 2025 Womenswear
      • Spring Summer 2025 Menswear
      • Couture Collections
      • Bridal Collections
      • Capsule Collections
    • Jewelry
    • Lookbooks
    • Street Style
    • Backstage
    • Directory
      • Agencies
        • Creative Talent Agencies
        • Modelling Agencies
      • Brands
      • Photographers
      • Fashion Stylists
      • Hair Stylists
      • Makeup Artists
      • Female Models
      • Male Models
  • SNEAKERS
  • MAGAZINES
    • DSCENE Magazine
    • MMSCENE Magazine
    • EDITORIALS
  • EXCLUSIVE
    • Interviews
    • Exclusive
  • TRAVEL
    • Hotels
    • Restaurants
  • ART
    • Art
    • Design
      • Furniture
    • Architecture
      • Interior Design
  • SHOP
    • ABOUT
No Result
View All Result
DSCENE
  • LATEST
  • FASHION
    • Ad Campaigns
    • Collections
      • Spring Summer 2026 Womenswear
      • Spring Summer 2026 Menswear
      • Fall Winter 2025.26 Womenswear
      • Fall Winter 2025.26 Menswear
      • Pre-Fall 2025 Collections
      • Spring Summer 2025 Womenswear
      • Spring Summer 2025 Menswear
      • Couture Collections
      • Bridal Collections
      • Capsule Collections
    • Jewelry
    • Lookbooks
    • Street Style
    • Backstage
    • Directory
      • Agencies
        • Creative Talent Agencies
        • Modelling Agencies
      • Brands
      • Photographers
      • Fashion Stylists
      • Hair Stylists
      • Makeup Artists
      • Female Models
      • Male Models
  • SNEAKERS
  • MAGAZINES
    • DSCENE Magazine
    • MMSCENE Magazine
    • EDITORIALS
  • EXCLUSIVE
    • Interviews
    • Exclusive
  • TRAVEL
    • Hotels
    • Restaurants
  • ART
    • Art
    • Design
      • Furniture
    • Architecture
      • Interior Design
  • SHOP
    • ABOUT
No Result
View All Result
DSCENE
No Result
View All Result

Samuel Ross for Kohler: Disrupting Design Norms

Dr. Samuel Ross talks his latest collaboration with Kohler exclusively for DSCENE Magazine's "Line, Form, Space" design issue.

August 1, 2024
in DSCENE MAGAZINE, Exclusive, Interviews, Katarina Doric, Samuel Ross, Zarko Davinic
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
© Kohler

At Milan Design Week 2024, the unveiling of the Formation 02 smart toilet marked a significant milestone in the collaboration between Dr. Samuel Ross, his studio SR_A, and Kohler. Hosted at the historic Palazzo del Senato, the event featured a large-scale, site-specific installation titled Terminal 02, specifically designed to introduce this innovative product.

PRE-ORDER IN PRINT and DIGITAL

DSCENE magazine‘s editors Katarina Doric and Zarko Davinic caught up with Dr. Samuel Ross during the presentation to talk about the creative process behind the Terminal 02 installation and the design philosophy of the Formation 02 smart toilet. Moving beyond traditional design setup, Ross emphasized his commitment to exploring and disrupting the grey areas within household fixtures. By returning to manual artistic processes, he aims to inject a sense of personal craftsmanship into modern design, challenging the reliance on digital tools and reinvigorating the dialogue around the role of human creativity in shaping our living spaces.

© Kohler

Dr. Ross, your collaboration with Kohler presents a bold approach to design that challenges traditional views. What was the inspiration? – It’s almost like there are these amazing categories that haven’t had disruption or a radical perspective placed for so long, and I really wanted to find the grey area or the white space to articulate newness. At this stage in my career, I understand the fundamentals, and now I’m driven to deconstruct them, to play and experiment. I’m also thinking about how our generation frames what we have to say within the lexicon or canon of design culture, which is why I’m making more provocative workshops. I’m finding more buoyancy in how I articulate through my work and aiming to make it increasingly relevant. Take the bathroom, for example—why haven’t we rethought this space?

At this stage in my career, I understand the fundamentals, and now I’m driven to deconstruct them, to play and experiment.

However, it’s challenging because it has already been done so many times. – Yes, but I started changing my design process when I started working with Kohler, while I was also preparing my Friedman Benda solo show in New York. I moved away from rendering software like Photoshop and Adobe, opting for painting and sketching with charcoal instead.

Samuel Ross Kohler
© Kohler

I love that you always show your design process. – It’s the cadences and quirks and errors that occur in the process of using the hand, which you can’t factor into the process, which help your signature and also break you out of becoming too linear. I’d say that was the way I approached this.

I thought, yes, there was a mood board and yes, there were questions I had tied to the magnitude and volume of water being delivered safely and the engagement of all of that process that is hidden. But it was also about not going on a computer and Photoshopping and not having it end point. There were questions, but they’re going into all of the sketching to unlock newness.

There’s something so human about sketches that people gravitate towards. Whether it’s the intimate, emotional sketches or the raw errors that occur during the drafting phase, they connect more than perfect digital renders.

How do you think the reliance on AI and digital tools has impacted the field of design? – This dependency can be damaging. Even before AI, we relied heavily on programs like Adobe or Rhino for rendering, but now, there’s a significant shift needed back towards manual processes. This is where the real cadences of design develop—often through error. For example, the predetermined views of what a toilet or tap should look like—I choose to go the complete opposite way and not reference those at all. Architects are trained to draw by hand, a skill that’s becoming sacred. Now, it’s rare for new designers to hand-draw, which is why I emphasize the importance of manual sketching in our processes.

Samuel Ross Kohler
© Kohler

It sounds like you’re advocating for a return to more traditional design methods? – Absolutely. There’s something so human about sketches that people gravitate towards. Whether it’s the intimate, emotional sketches or the raw errors that occur during the drafting phase, they connect more than perfect digital renders. Our internal team, which is humorously comprised mainly of architects and lawyers, follows every project from sketch to 3D modeling, to rendering, to technical drawing, and through every layer of fabrication. We maintain this comprehensive approach because we can speak the language of architecture and design fluently, ensuring that our projects are not only well-conceived but also meticulously executed.

PRE-ORDER IN PRINT and DIGITAL

Tags: designdsceneMilan Design Week
Katarina Doric

Katarina Doric

DSCENE Magazine's Features Director

Related Posts

DORIC ORDER: The Feminist Apartment is Empty
Doric Order

DORIC ORDER: The Feminist Apartment is Empty

August 23, 2025
Phoebe Collings-James on Clay, Care, and Building MUDBELLY
Exclusive

Phoebe Collings-James on Clay, Care, and Building MUDBELLY

August 20, 2025
Seeds, Soil, and Slowness with Chef Domingo Schingaro
DSCENE MAGAZINE

Seeds, Soil, and Slowness with Chef Domingo Schingaro

August 19, 2025
Next-Level NYC: 4 Restaurants and Bars to Experience Now
Restaurants

Next-Level NYC: 4 Restaurants and Bars to Experience Now

August 19, 2025

dscene

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

DSCENE

DSCENE is curated as a daily art, design, fashion & lifestyle destination. DSCENE is non-for-profit fashion and culture basis organization which aims at further development of research on DSCENE values, as well as on providing educational services. Home of magazine editions DSCENE and MMSCENE – Click for more about DSCENE and for our Terms of Service.

Subscribe Our Newsletter

© 2024 DSCENE Publishing. All rights reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

No Result
View All Result
  • LATEST
  • FASHION
    • Ad Campaigns
    • Collections
      • Spring Summer 2026 Womenswear
      • Spring Summer 2026 Menswear
      • Fall Winter 2025.26 Womenswear
      • Fall Winter 2025.26 Menswear
      • Pre-Fall 2025 Collections
      • Spring Summer 2025 Womenswear
      • Spring Summer 2025 Menswear
      • Couture Collections
      • Bridal Collections
      • Capsule Collections
    • Jewelry
    • Lookbooks
    • Street Style
    • Backstage
    • Directory
      • Agencies
      • Brands
      • Photographers
      • Fashion Stylists
      • Hair Stylists
      • Makeup Artists
      • Female Models
      • Male Models
  • SNEAKERS
  • MAGAZINES
    • DSCENE Magazine
    • MMSCENE Magazine
    • EDITORIALS
  • EXCLUSIVE
    • Interviews
    • Exclusive
  • TRAVEL
    • Hotels
    • Restaurants
  • ART
    • Art
    • Design
      • Furniture
    • Architecture
      • Interior Design
  • SHOP
    • ABOUT
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.