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Monday, February 15, 2016

Feel like a President on your Throne

The Ultimate TOTO Throne
image credit: Tori Aston


NeoRest500H


A highlight of the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) was spending time with TOTO USA.  As a sponsor, TOTO made us feel special. They truly wanted to connect with us designers at the show and at at our dinner together at the Wynn SW Steakhouse, Las Vegas. Courtney Novogratz was even a guest showing her new home castle renovation with TOTO products. It was awesome to hear the process and design decisions she has made with her husband Robert. See some images below from our wonderful dinner:








Courtney Novogratz 
image credits: Tori Aston


I was very impressed by all that TOTO exhibited including their eye catching booth design showcasing the power of the Tornado flush. See below. TOTO is all abut innovation and bettering our world with advanced technologies that conserves water. 


image credit:Tori Aston


image credit:Tori Aston



I loved learning about TOTO's cutting edge washlet and Neorest 550H toilet. Four amazing toilet features includes: self cleaning ultra light technology; the bowl is coated with a nano coating so bacteria doesn't stick; self lowering seat technology and the throne is heated!


TOTO Team and Courtney Novogratz
image credit: Tori Aston

Bill Strang, TOTO's President of Operations for the USA
image credit: Tori Aston

A special treat was also meeting Bill Strang, TOTO's President of Operations for the USA. I connected with him after KBIS and am thrilled to share his insights on this honorable 'President's' day:


Can you take us behind the scenes of TOTO’s process as it relates to market research and trends and how it affects your fixture designs today?

At TOTO, to help inform our business planning, we study the mega trends such as urbanization, sustainability, health & wellness.

Urbanization, for example, has informed our product development recently. Studies reveal that 1.3 million people move to cities every week. It’s estimated that by 2030 70% of the world’s population will be urban dwellers.

As consumers downsize and move to cities they often become inhabitants of multi-story high-rise buildings in which the bathrooms are significantly smaller than those in their former suburban residences.


MH Wall Hung Toilet

One solution to preserve room space in a smaller bathroom is a wall-hung toilet. This year, we have introduced the MH Wall Hung Dual Flush Toilet, which has a chic design, characterized by a full-bodied bowl with clean, simple lines, which offers design flexibility.


This stylish high-efficiency toilet saves precious space in the bathroom -- a total of 9 inches -- as its In-Wall Tank System is concealed along with the mounting bolts, water shut off valve and connection for an optional Washlet personal cleansing system. The handsome, user-friendly dual-flush push plate may be removed, providing easy access to the tank's interior components.
Lifted from the floor, the wall-mount MH HET makes cleaning beneath a breeze. ADA-compliant, this versatile unit may be mounted at standard or Universal Height.


Washlet G400

Do you interface with the consumer?

We learn a lot from consumers through market research, surveys, focus groups, and social media.

One of the things that we have learned from our work with consumers is people want to purchase products from companies that align with their personal ethics. This is why we believe transparency is so important. In fact, you might say that transparency the 'secret ingredient' in all TOTO products. It's the TOTO Way.

At TOTO, we have a company-wide focus on being "beyond compliance": setting the market trends in energy efficiency,  water conservation, and material health instead of following them. TOTO is industry leader in products that contribute to healthy, environmentally-responsible design. We were the first in the plumbing industry to introduce both Environmental Product declarations and Health Material Evaluations in order to provide consumers with the ability to make informed purchasing decision.

Healthy, ecologically sound products are highly prized by both consumers and design and construction professionals. However, identifying them is an often-onerous burden. TOTO is dedicated to facilitating this process by providing deeper and deeper levels of transparency about our products' material heath and environmental impacts.


image credit: Tori Aston


The innovative future of bath technology is smart. Walls will soon start talking to us. Has TOTO started to think in this direction?

TOTO began developing “smart” technology for more than 25 years. In fact, we created anew industry-wide product category when we debuted the first intelligent toilet with integrated personal cleansing system, which we named NEOREST. With their sleek, modern design, NEOREST integrated toilets respond to users by opening, closing, and flushing automatically. Their integrated Washlet personal cleansing systems offers warm-aerated water to clean and warm air to dry, significantly reducing the consumption of toilet tissue.
Winner of the iF International Award for Design Excellence, our NEOREST 750H intelligent toilet introduces the most complete bowl cleansing system available by synergizing TOTO’s patented flushing and smart surface technologies to effectively rid the bowl of both visible and invisible waste.



Neorest 750H

This smart cleansing system starts with TOTO’s eWater+ technology. Using the incoming water supply, a pre-mist wets the bowl’s surface preventing waste’s adherence 80% better than a dry bowl. After each flush, TOTO’s eWater+ automatically mists the bowl with electrolyzed water, which has a slightly acidic pH value, keeping the bowl fresh and clean longer.


Washlet 
image credit: Tori Aston


Next, the NEOREST 750H’s bowl is glazed with TOTO’s HYDROTECT titanium dioxide and zirconium glaze, giving it a lovely iridescent, mother-of-pearl sensibility. Extremely hydrophilic, this HYDROTECT active surface makes it nearly impossible for organic substances to adhere to the bowl’s surface -- enabling waste, lime scale, and mold to wash away with ease. Further, when combined with sunlight, HYDROTECT triggers a photocatalytic process in which organic substances are broken down at the cellular level.



To achieve this process in the NEOREST 750H, TOTO integrated a UV light in the seat lid that is activated when the lid is closed. Once the UV light hits the HYDROTECT’s titanium dioxide coating on the toilet’s bowl, photocatalysis occurs, accelerating the decomposition of all organic substances in the bowl.
TOTO's Actilight system results in a toilet bowl that remains incredibly clean and fresh for months at a time.



Thank you TOTO! Your innovation is an inspiration!


This is a sponsored post in collaboration with one of the generous BlogTour sponsors:  TOTO



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