When craftsmanship becomes art: Dornbracht CEOs in dialogue about individualisation

Tailored solutions starting at one piece: Dornbracht Atelier offers limitless creative possibilities for customising fittings. In this interview, Dornbracht CEOs Caroline Schmitt and Christian Ennenbach explain how ideas are turned into extraordinary one-off pieces, and why every unique product requires dedication and the utmost precision.

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Mrs Schmitt, why did you decide to position Dornbracht Atelier as a separate business segment?
Caroline Schmitt: Dornbracht has been offering customised solutions for 75 years. This decades-long experience has resulted in unrivalled expertise in individual fittings. With Dornbracht Atelier, this expertise is now taking on a different strategic significance – as an independent business unit alongside the bathroom, spa, and kitchen segments. This repositioning is a targeted response to the increasing demand for customised products in the luxury and project business. Dornbracht has already achieved sales spanning in the doubledigit million range with personalised solutions in 2024, and without any active marketing. We want to further expand our leading position in this area.

How can we imagine the process from the initial idea to the customised product?
Caroline Schmitt: It always starts with a personal vision: a request of an architect, designer, hotelier, or private customer that goes beyond our standard range. We often deal with minor adaptations of existing products. Sometimes, however, there is also a need for truly unique pieces that are characterised by special shapes or unseen colours and materials. The concept is developed through continuous dialogue with the customer. This means experimenting, trying things out, discarding things, and starting again. Until the perfect result is achieved, and the customer receives a unique, customised fitting.

Christian Ennenbach: At the same time, we check what requirements are associated with an order: Is an idea technically feasible at all? How do we realise the desired form? What materials do we need? In some cases, an initial prototype is created first, for which development and production work closely together. Details such as haptics, finish effect, performance, or ease of assembly are tested on this prototype. Once all the parameters are right and we are satisfied with the result, the final realisation takes place in our factory in Iserlohn.

Mr Ennenbach, what does it mean to manufacture products from a quantity of one? What challenges are involved and what is the special attraction?
Christian Ennenbach: We have the same high-quality standards for individual items as we do for our standard ranges. Every detail must be right. This approach is possible because our production is so flexible due to the high proportion of manual labour. Our workforce stands for experience and consistency: 57% of our employees have been with us for over ten years, 38% of them for more than two decades. Our colleagues all have the necessary degree of perfectionism that is required for such a complex task – and, of course, the passion. I am fascinated by manufacturing in quantities from just one: High technology and detailed craftsmanship form an extraordinary combination here – the basis for absolute creative freedom.

How much manual work goes into a product that is realised by Dornbracht Atelier?
Christian Ennenbach: In almost all cases, the manual labour required is significantly greater than the part where industrial processes are used. For example, there is the hammering process, which can be used for handles as well as the spout and other elements of the tap. This is a traditional technique in which the surface is processed in such a way that it is given a unique, unmistakable structure.

Ms Schmitt, can Dornbracht really realise every request?
Caroline Schmitt: Basically, anything is possible – provided it meets our own high-quality standards. That's why we first check every enquiry to see whether it can be realised in our factory in Iserlohn. If a customer's vision requires special expertise, we expand our team with selected partners from our network. They not only share our understanding of luxury and quality, but also our love for detail and expertise in materials. A good example of this is our cooperation with Nature Squared: the company produces artistic inlays from unusual, natural materials such as eggshells, or seashells. Nature Squared has developed a surface made from guinea fowl feathers for Dornbracht Atelier. The feathers are individually attached to our fittings by hand and then coated with a type of resin, making each version truly unique – and an absolute highlight in any bathroom.

Christian Ennenbach: When we create new shapes, our design principles, which we developed together with Sieger Design, serve as a guide. They leave room for creative diversity and individuality, but at the same time ensure that every customised solution is authentic and of the highest quality. However, the iconic aesthetics of our products often remain, and we reinterpret them: this can be seen, for example, in a customised version of our Tara. It has a finish that shimmers iridescently in different colours – a great effect made possible by state-of-the-art PVD technology.

What do you learn from these special projects and where could Dornbracht Atelier develop in the future?
Caroline Schmitt: Above all, we learn what really motivates our customers. And what it takes to fulfil their ideas 100%. Our claim “Inspiring your vision” is both a driving force and an aspiration. Dornbracht Atelier will create new, unexpected connections in the future: Our new business segment promotes dialogue, it inspires us to co-create, spurs us on to launch exclusive editions or innovative digital tools. Our vision is clear: we want to make Dornbracht Atelier internationally synonymous with ‘tailored luxury’ in fittings design – a byword for individual freedom and exclusive luxury.

Anya Wood Public Relations Limited
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Dornbracht
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