Japanese bathroom and kitchen brand LIXIL introduced their A New Desire concept in Milan last week. Designed by Kenya Hara, the ‘foam bathing’ experience aims to blur the distinction between your home’s dry and wet areas – challenge your perceptions of a bathtub’s use, and promote the Japanese belief that a “bathtub is more than just a part of the bathroom where you cleanse your body”. The installation – at Via Tortona’s Superstudio Più – led visitors from an experiential bath experience, where we could get all touchy-feely with the luxurious creamy substance, through to a vision they called Beyond Bath.

Without the usual problems that water conjures up, and with the virtue of relaxation that the velvety foam affords, slipping back into your Kenya Hara-designed tub would be a revolutionary lifestyle experience. That’s their vision anyway, and it seems like a bloody good vision to me. Where do we sign up?