Since wellness began becoming more of a priority in contemporary lifestyles, spas, saunas and Turkish baths have been gaining ground in the popularity stakes. The new frontiers in body care are being extended and its associations with the world of design are growing, bringing to life new solutions. To learn more, we spoke to Marco Borghetti, CEO of Effegibi, a company in this sector which has made wellness its mission.

These days, when society is increasingly focusing on taking care of the body to achieve a state of not only physical but also mental wellness, Effegibi has succeeded in responding to the trend, also bringing the rituals of the sauna and the Turkish bath inside the home. What changes when designing saunas and hammams for a home environment compared to those created for communal settings such as spas and gyms?
The Effegibi products for public and domestic areas feature identical technical qualities and performances. We can say that we offer our private customers professional products: whether they are hotels, gym clubs or private homes, the product remains the same. The distinctive mark of the Effegibi products destined for the residential environment is their "design", or the careful choice of materials and attention to detail and the fact they we create lines in partnership with designers who share our vision.

Effegibi is famous for having harmoniously combined the Finnish sauna with the hammam. Can you tell us about that? Where did the inspiration come from and how was this product received by the market?
The Nordic ritual of the Finnish sauna and the Mediterranean ritual of the Turkish bath have always been the foundations of our products. Each design is built based on a sense of respect for the long tradition that characterises them both. We could talk about these aspects for hours, both from a cultural point of view and in terms of their benefits for the mind and body. Our method of interpretation has been, and is still, based above all on the aesthetic aspect and is also motivated by the will to enable products that were historically designed for large environments to be used in smaller spaces.
We drew our inspiration both from the passion for these traditions and from the idea that, despite the temporal and geographical distance that separates their origins, the sauna and the Turkish bath are a marriage made in heaven.
As well as our custom-made products, today we also have a line of finished products that can be assembled in a day, in which we harmoniously combine a sauna space, with its dry heat, and a Hammam space, with the pleasure of its hot steam. Water is the perfect ideal and physical link between the two areas. The designers who work with us share this philosophy and this helps us achieve our objectives more easily.

On this subject, let's talk about the modular system BodyLove, designed by Rodolfo Dordoni with Michele Angelini. How important is the contribution provided by design for a company like Effegibi?
Over the last twenty years, Effegibi has shared each project and thought with a designer. We are the only ones to have adopted such an approach and we believe that this is what sets us ahead of the rest in this sector. We have always learned a lot from our designers, starting with our historical, game-changing partnership with Giovanna Talocci, and we are still committed to allowing their creativity to contaminate our passion for tradition.
BodyLove, our very latest collection, is fruit of our idea to create a new line of saunas. After our first meeting with Rodolfo Dordoni and Michele Angelini, we realised that we also wanted to add the Turkish bath element to the sauna.
Starting from the name BodyLove, copyrighted by Rodolfo, the entire project revolves around a sensorial, tactile approach, inspired by the desire to look after the body, the primordial principle underlying the concepts of both sauna and Turkish bath. The design is flexible, modular, with many different potential uses and forms, yet it has a distinctive identity. It lends itself to a host of different interpretations in terms of the dimensions and materials used, all painstakingly chosen by Rodolfo and Michele. The combinations of the materials and the matching set of accessories make BodyLove a project that reaches far beyond the single product. It is possible to recreate a made-to-measure environment not only in terms of size, but also by adding the customer's personal choice of various elements, from wood panelling to loungers, tables and accessories. We are extremely proud of this project and believe that BodyLove truly provides a unique take on the spa on the highest level.

Research and technological evolution are the key elements of the success achieved by Effegibi. What are the main innovations that have recently been introduced in terms of steam and heat production?
When it comes to the production of both steam and dry heat, our products are one step ahead of the rest and one of a kind. What inspires us is the need to combine user-friendliness and a simple, intuitive user interface with a more complex technology that enables the system to be maintained in lightning quick time.
All our products are managed by smart electronics which limit consumption levels, reduce the need for maintenance and are capable of passing the tests set by the international certifying bodies, meaning that all the user has to do is choose their wellness experience in a simple and intuitive way, without worrying about what the machines are capable of doing before, during and after their use.
Of the various innovations, one notable example is the "virtual open door sensor" of the latest line of Nuvola Smart Power steam generators. The system, composed of two temperature probes, allows the generator to detect an open door in the hammam area, interrupting the distribution of steam that would be dispersed into the surrounding environment. An extremely important function, especially in the sauna areas of hotel rooms.

Effegibi offers a wide range of possibilities in terms of choice and combinations of materials, including those not in the standard range, for creating a wellness space that is truly made-to-measure based on the customer's requirements. Can you tell us about it? What is the target market of Effegibi at the moment and what challenges does the future hold for the company?
The new challenges presented by the market, especially in the high-end luxury segment, are inextricably linked to a magnetic tendency towards customisation. Effegibi has studied a series of solutions with a design approach that points in this direction, at the same time guaranteeing similar maintenance and intervention possibilities to those available for the standard products.
One example of this is the series of glass panels with disappearing edges that only leave the glass visible, used both in sauna and Turkish bath environments. Customising these with no visible edges does not mean that the glass cannot be replaced, thanks to the patented edge that ensures a new pane can be assembled and disassembled without difficulty. Obviously, the possibilities involving the customisation of materials are extremely vast and in general we can meet all and any requirements expressed by an architect, offering them the full benefit of our thirty years of experience in the field of saunas and Turkish baths.
The Hammam Project, launched in the early 2000s with the idea of transforming the shower into a Turkish bath, was the forerunner of the vocation for customising the environments, at a time when plastic cabins were all the rage in the market. We believe that the areas dedicated to body care in the hospitality industry, in private homes and in hotel rooms are a chapter waiting to be written, with important potential for development.

www.effegibi.com