‘Design is the voice of the consumer in an organisation’

Inspired by Japanese heritage and world-class technology, LIXIL, known for offering pioneering water and housing solutions, believes in solving real life challenges by transforming home solutions end-to-end, making them easy, enjoyable and of true value to the consumers. From product design to experience design – LIXIL design team spends more time observing, listening, and gathering insights to understand their unarticulated needs. At the same time, LIXIL invests in technology, design and innovation to mitigate the challenges around urbanisation, water consumption, energy demand and climate change. 

“We believe in making pioneering water and housing products that make better homes a reality for everyone, everywhere. Through our multi-brand, multi-category portfolio strength, we bring in differentiation by offering innovative, thoughtful and meaningful solutions which truly stand out in not just catering to the most obvious requirements, but remain relevant by pre-empting evolving and unmet needs of our discerning consumers,” says Antoine Besseyre Des Horts, Leader, LIXIL Global Design - Asia, LIXIL Corporation, adding, “Drawing on our Japanese heritage, user-centric design is a key driver for our differentiation strategy, along with technology, quality and brand. The designs of our products reflect how we extensively monitor trends and insights across landscapes to then translate them into solutions that truly enhance people’s daily experiences.” 

This approach guides the entire journey of the product, from the inception stage to its manufacture, marketing and selling. Thus, developing a product which combines appeal, relevance and affordance through design, advanced purposeful features and long-lasting functionality in order to find easy acceptance with consumers organically.

LIXIL’s brands are and will be focussing on creating solutions to address the macro trends of urbanisation, health and well-being, and sustainability. “People are looking for solutions to optimise yet personalise their living spaces as well as enjoy tailored experiences that help them rejuvenate their body and mind. The bathroom and the kitchen will increasingly play an important role in addressing these practical and emotional needs. Therefore, LIXIL’s brands will continue building on their very user-centric design and innovation processes to further deliver pioneering products that solve real life, everyday challenges for our people and communities,” he shares. .0

Covid19, avers Antoine Besseyre Des Horts, has made people attach greater importance to hygiene and well-being and therefore has led to higher demand for innovative solutions incorporating antibacterial, cleansing and touchless technology. “The good news is that it has not radically changed our strategies as our brands have always been focussed on offering solutions to address hygiene and well-being needs. For instance, our brand GROHE offers several touchless basin faucets such as the Bau cosmopolitan E, Eurosmart Cosmopolitan E and Essence E which also allow people to adjust the water temperature. GROHE as well as American Standard and INAX offer shower toilets that feature lids that open when a user walks into the bathroom and closes and flushes itself after usage. Such features and technologies prevent physical touch of the hand throughout the entire user experience, minimising the risk of bacteria transmission. Therefore, the pandemic has helped us to expand our offering and triggered new opportunities,” he informs.