When it comes to hot tubs, design is one of the key factors that influences the purchasing decision. Whilst the true nature of a hot tub is therapy and relaxation, they are often statement pieces that sit at the heart of a home or garden wellness space, enjoyed and admired by friends and family.
Whilst portable hot tub design has developed over the years with changes to seating layouts (never more so than with new European inspired designs moving away from the familiar American standard), stainless steel jets finishes and more variety in cabinet materials and design, there is one element that hasn’t come very far at all… the acrylic shell.
The standard that has become accepted by hot tub manufacturers and therefore by being further along the supply chain, retailers and end users also is a vacuum formed sheet of coloured acrylic, typically from Lucite® or Aristech® who dominate supply to the hot tub industry. Every year, manufacturers must decide upon a limited range of acrylic colours to provide a design choice to the final buyer. Of course it is not economically viable for manufacturers to stock every colour and style of acrylic and national importers tend to restrict colour choices further so as not to sit on obsolete stock if colours don’t sell as well as hoped. You can see this by looking at UK hot tub retailer websites and noting that “Sterling Silver” has become the standard stock colour hot tub.
There are two problems with this approach. The first is fashion. Like clothing, hot tub acrylic colours follow trends so much so that I could probably date your hot tub within a year or two by looking at the colour and finish! It’s nice to have the latest trend or design but we live in a fast moving world where today’s trend is short lived and a hot tub should have a purposeful life of at least a decade a hot tub can appear dated faster than you’d like. The second issue is matching a hot tub to your home or garden design. A hot tub is often a rather large and imposing feature and if customers don’t have the ability to make their hot tub a seamless part of their overall space design, they can distract the eye and can be visually distracting from the whole.
Coril® technology allows you to use any RAL colour(s) to create an acrylic shell that ties into your overall design scheme. The RAL palette includes both a huge range of plain colours and also metallic effects that give a pearlescent effect that look great with water and lighting. Bringing in colour from elsewhere in the wellness scheme and matching it to the acrylic shell both avoids design clashes and prevents such a large piece of spa equipment looking out of place. Architects and designers enjoy the flexibility to work with multiple colours or even create completely bespoke artwork on spas whilst corporate clients can add logos and colours that match their brand.
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- Portcril 10112014
