Local design studio MuseLAB creates a playful, immersive environment for bathware brand Aquant, where products become part of a larger sensory journey.

KEY FEATURES

Sorbet, a new bathware experience centre in South Mumbai, transforms conventional showroom design through a bold colour strategy and intuitive spatial planning. Designed by MuseLAB, the 241-sq-m space occupies a former rug atelier where high walls and deep volume have been preserved and recontextualized.

The façade sets the tone: a lime-green cuboid structure has permeable skin composed of fluted glass, clear glass and a fabricated trellis with embedded planters. Inside, mint-green surfaces dominate the environment – appearing as textured paint, candy-esque terrazzo and Piccolo mosaic segments – and contrast dramatically with marsala-coloured beams, columns and mechanical elements. The layout is organized around intersecting circles that create semi-open enclosures for product display, allowing visitors to experience the entire volume from any vantage point. Flooring alternates jagged chunks and curved pieces of Kota stone embedded in ivory grout, creating a terrazzo-like effect. Display systems include cloche-style pedestals, curved tiered units and suspended bell-shaped pendants that echo the space's overarching geometry. Throughout the showroom, bathware products are showcased in carefully orchestrated vignettes, with functioning shower displays and bathroom fixtures integrated into the sculptural green partitions.

FRAME'S TAKE

Sorbet exemplifies how retail environments now function as brand manifestos rather than mere product displays. MuseLAB cleverly rejects the clinical white-box aesthetic that has dominated bathware showrooms, instead creating a cinematic environment that places products within a broader lifestyle narrative. The colour palette – one rarely associated with bathroom design – signals a brand willing to challenge conventions. Bathroom fixtures are elevated from utilitarian objects to design statements.

The architecture becomes an extension of the products on display – curved partitions, circular pedestals and terrazzo details echo contemporary bathroom design. Even exposed mechanical systems become decorative elements. By prioritizing intuitive exploration over linear navigation, MuseLAB creates a space that invites discovery, transforming a potentially transactional retail experience into something closer to a gallery visit.