The humble shower curtain is often viewed as a kitschy artefact and considering its tendency to be adorned with cartoon-like fish or lime-green frogs, that's hardly surprising. But some creative designers produce curtains that provide an arresting visual focus for bathrooms or as part of a co-ordinated suite of decorator items.
The striking designs at Izola (www.
izolashower.com) mainly use black-and-white photographs printed on vinyl. One series has shots of famous locations throughout the world, such as the pyramids of Giza, the Brooklyn Bridge (below right) and a view of Paris. Another series features an overall patterned approach, with one showing a photo of stacked sake barrels and another the repeated image of a Buddha statue. There is also an artist series, which includes a 1984 photograph from Studio 54 by Patrick McMullan and a comic-book-style drawing filled with tattooed mermaids, surfing centaurs and laundry detergent adverts by New York street artist Faile (McMullan and Faile designs, US$40; others, US$35).
The Travel Journal shower curtain (US$48) is printed with text from the travel diary of