Sphere washing machine by EmamiDesign

My well-mannered grandmother once told me that the only appropriate place for a washing machine is the laundry room. The washing machine, in my grandmother’s eyes, is part of a home’s underpinnings, never to be seen—much less admired—by the public. The Bauknecht washing machine, made in Berlin and Stuttgart, puts that old notion to shame.

Berlin-based designer Arman Emami has collaborated with Whirlpool to create a futuristic Bauknect washing machine. Creative and managing director of the industrial design firm Emami Design, Arman Emami develops pieces for the home that are both utilitarian and attractive. On the firm’s site, Emami states, “Whoever stops being innovative stops being successful.” Given the range of awards won by Emami Design— Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen’s red dot design award, International Design Forum’s iF design award, and both the GOOD Design Award Japan and Good Design Award USA—it is clear that Emami repeatedly meets his aim of innovation and success.

Emami’s visionary appliance is both a highly functioning washing machine and a piece of modern design worthy of any room in a house, private or public. It’s stylish. By stripping the classic washing machine of its knobs, dials, and bulky cube shape, Emami has created a sleek future-pod of an appliance with a curved shape that mirrors a cyclical wash. The machine’s minimalistic design includes a push-to-open tinted glass door and streamlined controls. With its refined shape and modern sensibilities, the Arman Emami round washing machine moves laundry out of the laundry room and into the future.