subject: Vitra Layton; A great value Bathroom Set with great design flair! [print this page] Vitra Layton; A great value Bathroom Set with great design flair!
I'm not that old, but I can remember the days when mum and I would venture into town and buy our fruit and veg from the family stores. I remember hearing them shouting at the tops of their voices "20p a pound a bananas! Bananas at twentyyyy!"
The owner of the store always took his position at the front of the store's kiosk-like facade, wearing fingerless gloves which exposed blackened fingernails and his wife usually stood behind taking people's money and placing it into a wooden drawer which supported a Victorian looking weighing scale.
They're not there now. Their business has been subsumed by the local grocery store, which while convenient has denied us the more traditional business interactions of yesteryear. I had long since forgotten this way of life until I took a trip to Turkey.
Turkey is a country with some of the most spectacular scenery in the world which, if you drive through the mountains, changes from vast planes strewn with boulders, to great plateaus which put you above the clouds.
The life in the towns are equally interesting, with every shop keeper inviting you in to drink tea with them, which comes in a hundred different varieties. And it's here that you experience the market culture at it's finest.
As you sip the delicious tea they present you with their goods and ask you what you think it is worth - like they're having a casual conversation. You make a suggestion and they throw their heads back in laughter inviting another offer. And once you both nod your heads in agreement (not withstanding the fact that you didn't want a multicolored waistcoat) he's bagging the item for you, releasing you from the store a few Turkish Lira lighter.
This is Turkish culture. This is how it's done and has been done for hundreds of years. And so it comes as no surprise that Vitra, a manufacturer of very stylish bathroom ware, produce such high value goods.
Turkey, producing bathroom ware? I hear you ask. If you're surprised, as I was, you shouldn't be when you consider that the Turks have made a social past time of bathing for a long time with their Turkish Baths and Saunas.
And so it is that they have one of the worlds largest producers of bathroom ware. And items such as the Vitra Layton 4 Piece Bathroom Set are a prime example of how the Turks seek to provide massive value coupled with an artisan's attention to detail.
