INAX

INAX is the Japanese sanitaryware and ceramic tile brand whose story begins with the decorative tiles produced for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, after years of experiments with clay and fire. Founded as Ina Seito in 1924 in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, it has built its bathrooms around two obsessions: ceramic technology and a Japanese sense of surface, colour and light.

The company introduced Japan’s first domestically made shower toilet and a self-powered hands-free faucet, and develops tile ranges with the same attention to glaze and texture. Since 2011 INAX has been one of the brands of LIXIL, whose global design team, led by chief design officer Paul Flowers and covered by DesignWanted, designs for INAX, GROHE and American Standard.