The base is an original material: steel with an enamelled surface, the two 3.5 mm thick together. Its specific properties make it ideal for the manufacture of bathtubs and shower trays. Although acrylic is less complicated to process than steel, steel has excellent flow behaviour under pressure and is completely recyclable. Combined with first-class design, the results are harmonious shapes that are perfectly adapted to the needs of the body seeking relaxation. Manufacturing a steel bathtub requires the use of expensive machinery, which calls for total precision both in the design and also in the manufacture.

In Europe's most modern manufacturing plant, some 700 employees produce over two million bathtubs and shower trays every year. In order to ensure that this happens with the promised standard of quality and with total regard for the environment, Kaldewei not only uses natural, fully recyclable materials but also develops and patents its own special machinery. The enamel is burnt in the world's biggest U-type furnaces. The company's wealth of technical expertise is the result of over 80 years' experience in metal processing.The company was founded in 1918, initially as the manufacturer of domestic and kitchen equipment, milk churns and dairy equipment. It added bathtubs to its range of products in 1934. Heinrich Kaldewei, son of the founder Franz, manufactured the first solid-drawn single-piece bathtub in 1958, and within 10 years it had overtaken cast-iron baths as the market leader. The present owner Franz Dieter Kaldewei, who became managing director in 1973, turned the company into the most progressive bathtub manufacturer in Europe, with the highest capacities and quality standards in the world.

Kaldewei has carried out its own research and development work, and has already contributed to many developments in materials and processes. Its easy-clean finish, for instance, not only provides more comfort during bathing, but afterwards, too. Dirt and water simply roll down the permanently burnt-on surface finish, which makes these steel enamel bathtubs - which are extremely easy to look after anyway - even more comfortable.

With all the effort and expense involved in processing steel enamel, it's simply not possible to launch a new model on the market every month. Unnecessary product variety with a range of constantly changing models, as is the case with acrylic products, for instance, would also cause total product confusion. It is much better to offer one bathtub in variations to suit any installation, such as the six models in the VAIO family of bathtubs. That old chestnut about acrylic being available in a greater variety of shapes than steel enamel stopped mattering years ago. Today, Kaldewei offers some 200 bathtubs and shower trays, and each one has been carefully designed and well thought through; no passing fads here. Kaldewei's programme comprises a design-based Premium Line, discerning comfort models, and mid-class designs at affordable prices: such as the VAIO family of bathtubs. Kaldewei also offers solutions to specific problems - for any pocket. Continuing the trend for increased wellness in the bathroom, many of these bathtubs can be fitted with innovative whirlpool systems.

But the best offer is worth little without quality. Kaldewei means quality in design, quality in material, and quality in manufacture. It can take months before a new product is put on the market. Everything has to be right. The bathtub is the single item in the home that has to last the longest. People may sometimes update their bathroom fittings, or put in a new cabinet, but it can literally be years before the bathtub is replaced. Kaldewei confirms its awareness of this responsibility with a 30-year-guarantee.

Because one of the excellent properties of Kaldewei steel enamel 3.5 mm is its durability. Unlike acrylic, enamel is resistant to acids, acetone (nail varnish remover) and scouring detergents. Even tough dirt is easy to remove, and long years of frequent and repeated use leave no traces on the surface.

However, long durability such as this makes its demands on the designers. And for fifteen years now, this traditional company has valued the know-how and expertise of two of the world's most renowned design studios: Sottsass Associati of Milan, and Phoenix Design of Stuttgart and Tokyo. Since 1993, Kaldewei has received more than 14 design awards for increased quality of life and individuality in the bathroom. "A product has to be recognisable and to work without the need for a company logo and user instructions," says Andreas Haug, managing director of Phoenix Design. He has an abhorrence for modern fads and passing trends - an attitude that won the Phoenix team the 1998 Lucky Strike Designer Award for its overall performance, once of the biggest and most coveted international design awards.

To Andreas Haug and Tom Schönherr, Phoenix co-founder and managing director, a good bathtub design is one that shapes 3.5-mm steel enamel into a harmonious, easy-to-clean and user-friendly unity of shape and function and emotional empathy.

Another leading European designer is also responsible for several Kaldewei products: Ettore Sottsass. Many of the models in the premium line were designed by Sottsass Associati, the design studio established in 1980. The Milanese designer's guiding principle is the harmonious combination of function and pleasure. "It's an old tradition that we bring order to our thoughts in the bathtub," according to Ettore Sottsass. A bathtub offers absolute relaxation if it is ergonomically designed with clear, simple structures. This motto has been beautifully interpreted in the bathtubs MEGA DUO, DUO POOL, CENTRO DUO and CENTRO DUO 6. Asian bathing culture in particular appeals to the Innsbruck-born Sottsass, and its influence is most evident in the KUSATSU POOL.

The comfortable TWIN POOL bathtub with its ergonomic back profile, generous showering comfort and optimum space utilisation was awarded the Red Dot of the Design Centre North-Rhine Westphalia for its high level of design quality. The STUDIO and STUDIO STAR bathtubs were also awarded a Red Dot by the highly discerning jury for their symbiosis of design quality and space utilisation, as well as the International Design Award Baden-Württemberg. The coveted Red Dot has also gone to the MEGAPLAN and RONDEZZA shower trays. DUO POOL, KUSATSU POOL, Rotonda, MEGAPLAN and Rondoplan received the DESIGN PLUS Sanitär Heizung Klima, and Rotonda, MEGAPLAN and RONDEZZA a further award from the Industrie Forum Design Hanover.

Kaldewei uses state-of-the-art technology to manufacture bathtubs of between 140 x 70 centimetres and 195 x 110 centimetres. The hexagonal bathtubs, which are extremely popular because of their versatility, are available in sizes from 75 x 100 cm wide and 170 x 214 cm long. Kaldewei bathtubs enable the bather to glide through water at depths between 31.5 and an impressive 81 cm.

Rectangular, pentagonal, round, semi-circular, square - we have the right shower tray for any and every situation. Super-flat at just 2.5 cm high, they are easily accessible by the elderly and by wheelchair-users, and at 28 cm depth can easily be used as a small sitz bath. There's a veritable "mini" measuring just 70 x 75 cm, and a "giant" of 120 x 120 cm for a really spacious shower.

But Kaldewei wants more than design competence and modern technology. Continuous innovation has made the company a system provider of everything to do with bathing, showering and wellness. Complete and detail solutions for the challenging small bathroom, the spacious luxury bathroom, the difficult galley bathroom, the bathing suite with sauna and fitness centre, or the international hotel bathroom are all specialities of this Westphalian company. The bathtub programme is complemented by fitting and panelling systems and integrated shower partitions.

Kaldewei is also a competent partner in the development of individual solutions. For the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Potsdamer Platz in the heart of Berlin, Kaldewei has created a completely new variant of its popular CENTRO DUO model. The overflow has been dispensed with, and instead the rim along the side of the bath has been lowered by three centimetres. Now the water flows over the edge like a waterfall, and down into a sunken drain in the floor. Guests in all 348 rooms can now bathe in the same luxury as Elizabeth Taylor when she portrayed the legendary Egyptian Queen in the classic "Cleopatra".