After winning the Red Dot Design Award in 2014, the soho 01 shower by JEE-O has now also won the 2016 German Design Award for the Bath and Wellness category. JEE-O’s soho collection is the result of a collaboration with the Amsterdam-based design studio, Grand & Johnson. Since 2012, the German Design Award recognizes pioneering international designs selected by a professional jury of the Rat für Formgebung, the German Design Council. The award will be presented on 12 February 2016, during a large-scale show at the Ambiente lifestyle fair in Frankfurt.
As Lammert Moerman, founder van JEE-O, reflects, “The German Design Award is one of the most prestigious prizes for design in the world. Audi, Vodafone and Volkswagen are previous winners. It is wonderful that we at JEE-O are now standing amongst them. Eleven years ago, when we began JEE-O in Nijmegen, who would have imagined this?”
soho: maximum minimalism by JEE-O and Grand & Johnson design
For their soho collection, JEE-O worked with the Grand & Johnson design studio in Amsterdam. Bertel Grote and Jeroom Jansen have more than 20 years of combined experience in creating high-end interiors, both in and beyond the Netherlands. Their style perfectly suits the DNA of JEE-O: spectacular but sober. Together, JEE-O and Grand & Johnson are creative cosmopolitans who give shape to maximum minimalism.
International recognition for Dutch design by JEE-O
What makes the German Design Award so exceptional begins with the competition requirements. The design must have already won a national or international design award. In addition, a brand cannot nominate their own product, but must have attracted the attention of the professional jury. “The jury saw us at the ISH bathroom fair in Frankfurt. Being nominated was already a fabulous honour. The fact that we have also won the award is fantastic – such great recognition for Dutch design!”
Worldwide success for JEE-O
The JEE-O brand is today distributed in nearly 30 countries around the world. In addition to the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, as well as Austria and Switzerland, in the last few years, America, Israel, Australia and New Zealand have also become important customers. Lammert Moerman travels a great deal. “It is always exciting to express my enthusiasm for JEE-O, to distributors, dealers, shopkeepers and consumers. We want to spread our DNA everywhere.”
Today, Lammert Moerman proudly reports that Brazil, Italy, Japan, England, several Eastern European countries and Turkey have now all joined the JEE-O market community. “I am delighted that the cosmopolitan character of JEE-O has such worldwide appeal, for home bathrooms as well as in prestigious wellness and hotel projects, such as the recently completed rooftop shower at the W Hotel in Amsterdam and Silversand Hotels in the Maldives. We have already realized an impressive list of wonderful projects.
“If I look back over the last 11 years, there have been several milestones," says Lammert Moerman. “We began with freestanding showers. My first design was the JEE-O Original, which is still in our collection. In ten years, we grew from a single shower to total bathroom concepts. Today, JEE-O produces faucets, sinks, bath fillers and showers for interiors and outdoors. For me personally, other milestones were our introduction to the American market some three years ago and our rapid internationalization. We have won international awards, such as the prestigious Red Dot Award for our freestanding soho shower, which can be installed either indoors or outdoors. And now we can add the German Design Award.”
Working together with other creatives has been a great experience, and JEE-O will be doing more of it. As Lammert Moerman explains, “JEE-O also wants to serve as a platform for designers, a technical link link for successfully turning ideas and sketches into concrete products.
Lammert Moerman is rightly proud of what his Dutch brand has achieved. “In the years to come, we will continue to build on being a top, internationally respected brand. In addition, we especially want to be and to remain accessible to a wide group of people: distinctive in design, high-quality and durable, but without all the extra fuss.”
