Cabuchon Bathforms has announced the launch of its new Futari two-person deep soaking tub.
The Futari is the company’s second soaking tub for shared bathing. It was developed in response to the popularity of its original two-seat model, the Xanadu. The most obvious difference between the Futari and its predecessor is the seating position. The Xanadu has a symmetrical design that allows users to sit on one of two shallow platforms – either side by side or opposite one another. By contrast, the Futari has two clearly defined seats with sculpted back rests. Bathers sit at opposite ends, slightly offset.
In the new Futari, users also adopt a more upright, seated posture. The internal depth between the seat and overflow measures 470mm (18½”), while the depth to the footwell is 565mm (22¼”).
Depth is important because deeper water tends to buoy up the bather, thereby promoting a sense of weightlessness and comfort. An upright posture takes strain off the neck and shoulders. The Futari therefore offers the comfort and other benefits of a single-seat soaking tub, and makes the best use of a relatively compact footprint. With external dimensions of 1600 x 1150mm (63” x 45¼”), the Futari is suitable for use in most bathrooms, and will pass through a standard door of 737mm (29”).
“Though the Futari and the Xanadu are both two-person soaking tubs, they are very different baths,” explains Cabuchon marketing manager, Jordan Petts. “The Xanadu has a minimalist design and it gives people a choice about where they each want to sit. That’s still a popular feature and there’s no doubt that we’ll be keeping it as part of the range.
“The Futari is closer to what we’d regard as the ‘classic’ deep soaking tub design, by which I mean it is compact and the bather sits more upright. It has a sculpted backrest and enough room on the raised seat to slide backwards or forwards so as to vary the effective depth of the water. It’s the result of extensive testing and we regard it as one of the most comfortable baths we’ve ever made.”
The Futari is designed primarily as a built-in bath. It can be set into a raised deck or a tiled surround, and it may be installed either as a drop-in bath (with the rim visible) or undermounted (with the rim set below the deck.) Optionally, Cabuchon can also supply bespoke panels that cover anything from one to four sides.
The company first coined the phrase ‘deep soaking tub’ to describe its Imersa bath, which it launched in 1991. The bath took its inspiration from the Japanese ofuro, but Cabuchon added an integral seat and manufactured it using Ficore® – its own, specially developed composite. In the years that followed, Cabuchon has launched a further six deep soaking tubs, of which the Futari is the latest. All are handmade in Britain using Ficore®.
Cabuchon can produce Ficore® in any colour. Within its standard pricing, Cabuchon will match most other sanitaryware manufacturers’ published colours. For an extra fee, special colours can also be produced – to match, for example, the base colour of a stone, tile or fabric.
Ficore® is more rigid than any non-metal or non-stone bath, and it exhibits superior heat retention. In independent tests, it has been shown to keep water hot more than six times longer than acrylic and more than twelve times longer than vitreous enamelled metal.
The Futari is backed by a 25-year guarantee and, like all of Cabuchon’s deep soaking tubs, it may be purchased with an optional hydrotherapy system, tailored to the size and preferences of the user.
