The History Of Hansgrohe

Hansgrohe was established in 1901 in Schiltach, Germany by Hans Grohe. Hansgrohe began its operations manufacturing metal spun products and included parts for clocks, brass pans and anchor plates for stove pipes. It is now the world's leading plumbing specialist.

The company is a family run business and consists of four key brands:

Hansgrohe

Hansgrohe's flagship brand designed for bathroom professionals in both the installation and commercial sectors. The product range includes showers (including the ground-breaking Raindance and Raindance AIR hand and overhead showers), mixers, thermostats, waste drainage technology and other equipment for the bathroom, as well as kitchen mixers.

Axor

The Axor brand is the high-end designer collection for exclusive bathrooms. Axor offers a comprehensive range of designs for the individual bathroom, from avant-garde to classical, developed by the likes of Phoenix Product Design of Stuttgart & Tokyo, Philippe Starck and Antonio Citterio.

Pharo

Pharo is the newest brand and combines preassembled shower and hydro-massage systems, shower panels, whirlpool baths, steam showers and cabins, aimed at bathroom lifestyle and wellness.

Pontos

Pontos is a complete intelligent water recycling system.

Hansgrohe has five facilities in Germany and over 20 subsidiaries and offices in Europe, America and the Far East, employing over 2500 employees. Hansgrohe products are manufactured in five plants in Germany, as well as France, Holland, the USA and China.

The company has become a driving force in the industry by winning more than 150 design awards for its innumerable technological innovations over the last 30 years. Hansgrohe have over the last 104 years invented and introduced a number of major bathroom innovations, including the shower wall bar, the first adjustable hand shower, the first coloured mixers, introduced ball mixer technology in Germany and, with its Pharo brand, the first pre-installed shower systems, as well as many other innovations and world firsts (see History below).

Hansgrohe's Quality Statement

At Hansgrohe, we believe that quality is based on a positive customer reaction to our products. This philosophy applies to our products as much as it does to our services.

"Quality is produced and not tested into the products": We have firmly anchored this maxim throughout our product lines on the basis of process-oriented procedures. We think and operate according to the zero-defect principle.

Every person who works for Hansgrohe, regardless of their job position or place in the corporate hierarchy, is personally responsible for the quality of our workmanship. Employee education and training play an important role at Hansgrohe, because this helps build a sense of quality awareness and quality-based performance.

HISTORY

1901 - Hans Grohe and his partner split up. In Schiltach, Hans Grohe took over a wooden shed from Spittelsage, where the former Voight & Thieringer metal pressing plant had been housed. With a work force of two men, he used waterpower to manufacture metal spun products. The product line included parts for clocks, brass pans, anchor plates for stovepipes, lights for barn lanterns, lamp globes for kerosene lamps, galvanized roofing tips, and other articles based on patterns and designs. Before long, they also began manufacturing products for household plumbing applications. Hans Grohe used a bicycle to call on his customers - plumbers and pipe-layers - in the Black Forest. After only six months, it was already possible to hire a third worker, and after a year, a fourth metal worker was added.

1908 - Opening new markets - Hans Grohe travelled to Hamburg, Rhineland, and Switzerland, supplying wholesalers instead of individual plumbers and pipe-layers. The first company catalogue was published.

1910 - Hans Grohe travelled to Vienna, and contacts with Hungary were established. Twelve workers and one office clerk were now employed.

1928 - Hand held shower attachments with porcelain grips appear in the company catalogue for the first time.

1934 - The first automatic tub drainage and overflow fittings were introduced on the market. Excenter fittings for washstands appeared for the first time in the catalogue. Hans Grohe now employed more than 100 workers and had several representations abroad.

1945 - By this time, the work force had grown to more than 500 employees. Despite the economic collapse and the shortage of raw materials, the company managed to maintain production and even to launch new products.

1953 - Introduction of Unica™, the world's first fully adjustable wallbar, which is now a common element in bathrooms around the world.

1956 - Selecta™, the world's first adjustable hand shower was designed. An instant classic with more than 20 million sold around the world.

1958 - The existing line of bath wastes underwent further development, marketed as Excentra 53. For the first time an adjustable shower, as well as a jet-stream shower are offered. Hans Grohe products were put on display at the Brussels World Fair.

1968 - Hansgrohe products are introduced to the United States.

1974 - TRI-BEL, the first hand shower with a rotational head and three spray modes was made available in five different colours. It was designed by Esslinger Design (later frogdesign) and was the first Hansgrohe product included in the "German Selection" at the Design Centre in Stuttgart. Hansgrohe became the first company in the field of plumbing fixtures to work together with professional industry designers, marking the start of a long series of design awards.

1981 - The introduction of Quiclean, the de-scaling function that is activated automatically each time the spray mode is changed. An optimal solution, which keeps the shower clean and prolongs the working life of the shower.

1985 - Uno hits the market, with the first mixer series specially designed for colour. Uno receives several design awards, in the USA among others.

1989 - The Shower Temple is awarded the OSCAR at the Batimat. This was the first time the Association of French Interior Designers had given this award to a German company.

1992 - The Rubit de-scaling system - Hansgrohe's first hand shower with the Rubit cleaning system was introduced. Flexible silicon burls ensure that limescale cannot stick to the shower face. Any limescale deposits are simply rubbed off.

ECOSTOP - The Ecostat, the first surface-mounted thermostat to feature Ecostop water conservation was introduced. The Ecostop function saves up to 50% of water - and still provides 100% showering enjoyment.

Waterdim Set - In order to promote water saving in private households, Hansgrohe include a water saving set to reduce water flow with its showerhead products.

1993 - Construction begins of Europe's largest array of solar panels, on the roof of Hansgrohe's plant in Offenburg. Joco, the cheeky and colourful fun shower was launched.

1995 - Pharo, the world's first pre-installed shower system is perfected by Hansgrohe. The Lift shower panel is the first height adjustable shower panel on the market.

1997 - Axor Steel, the world's first complete stainless steel bathroom programme was introduced. The manufacturing process put 50% less strain on the environment than conventional production methods (as certified by the Fraunhofer Institute).

The launch of the Boltic lever lock with 3 times the bearing surface of conventional fixing systems. A wedge-shaped control lever with tensile clamping ensures that any lever locked with Boltic will never wear loose - not even after many years of use.

1998 - Hansgrohe becomes the world's largest manufacturer of shower heads.

1999 - On January 1st 1999, the transition from Hansgrohe GmbH & Co.KG into a family corporation took place. In July 1999 Hansgrohe acquired the Dutch company CPT Holding BV in Zaandam, well-known under the brand "Cleopatra". Hansgrohe presented its New Generation, a completely redesigned shower series.

Hansgrohe develops Satinox - a new electro-plated surface.

2000 - Hansgrohe presented the Waterdream No. 2, designed by Phoenix Product Design at Sawaya & Moroni, Milan. Developed using new types of soft material, it contained a filigree bath sculpture, an organically growing shower column and a blossom-like pool.

2001 - Hansgrohe presented the ibox universal, a concealed installation unit for six different types of installation, making plumbing installations much simpler and straight forward.

The introduction of the Rubit Aerator, which injects air into the water flow making the spray comfortably soft, with the advantage of limescale not easily adhering to the elastic silicone disk. If limescale does appear it can easily be wiped off by hand.

2002 - The ibox universal revolutionises concealed installations. With its unique integrated safety-combination, the ibox universal saves the need for an external shut-off valve, saving on installation and service costs.

2003 - Axor Citterio and Raindance are introduced, re-enforcing Hansgrohe's commitment to innovation in technology and design. The result of Raindance is a completely new shower programme, in fact an evolution in the way we think about showers. With an extremely large shower head, super-flat silhouette and short handgrip, Raindance has turned form and function upside down.

The Masco group acquired majority interest in Hansgrohe. The existing Management Board retained leadership of the Hansgrohe group, with Klaus Grohe acting as Chairman.