Saturnbath Named a ‘2021 Global Strong Small Enterprise,’ Realizing Its Leap into a Global Brand
Selected as an Export-Leading Strong Small Enterprise with Innovation and Growth Potential
Saturnbath (CEO Jung In-hwan), a bathroom specialty company, has been selected as a promising small and medium-sized enterprise poised to lead the global market. Saturnbath announced that it was recently designated a ‘2021 Global Strong Small Enterprise’ by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and held the ‘2021 Global Strong Small Enterprise’ certificate award ceremony at its headquarters in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul, on June 4.
The ‘Global Strong Small Enterprise’ program discovers export-leading small enterprises with innovation and growth potential and nurtures them into export-leading companies and region-driven representative companies. It is a project jointly promoted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, local governments, and regional partner institutions. This year, 456 companies applied for the Global Strong Small Enterprise program, and a final 200 companies were selected through on-site evaluations, presentation evaluations, and other reviews. Only SMEs with sales of KRW 10 billion to 100 billion and exports of USD 5 million or more in the previous year were eligible to apply, so the final 200 companies were designated after rigorous evaluation of genuinely capable SMEs. Since its launch in 2011, the Global Strong Small Enterprise program has selected a total of 1,642 companies through this year.
Saturnbath earned high marks for its trajectory as a company that, drawing on the know-how accumulated over the past 31 years, presents premium bathroom products combining both technological prowess and design to domestic and international markets, and leads a bathroom-centered residential culture. With this Global Strong Small Enterprise selection, Saturnbath has secured, over the next four years, cooperation among the central government, local governments, regional innovation institutions, and financial guarantee institutions—including overseas marketing support, preferential treatment for R&D participation (Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy), local government autonomous programs, and customized financial·guarantee packages from financial institutions—giving it the momentum to establish its standing not only domestically but also in the global market.
Proposing Not a Mere ‘Toilet’ but a ‘True Bathroom’
Saturnbath is pursuing growth as a global company through the production of a wide range of products and cultural activities that contribute to the advancement of bathroom culture. In particular, the philosophy of bathroom space that runs through the core of Saturnbath’s corporate activities serves as a key factor enabling its growth into a global brand.
Saturnbath has continuously articulated the latent potential of the bathroom space, which—even amid a modernized residential lifestyle—still remains confined to the concept of a ‘toilet’ in terms of function and design. Through a shift in perception of the bathroom space, Saturnbath is convinced that the elements of rest, healing, and enjoyment that can be savored in a ‘true bathroom’ will play an essential role in leading a higher quality of residential life.
Saturnbath CEO Jung In-hwan explains, “For the majority of modern people who live in uniformly structured apartment complexes, the bathroom is nothing more than a ‘toilet’ equipped with minimal functionality,” adding that “a fundamental change in bathroom culture is needed so that satisfaction in the bathroom can extend to residential life as a whole—through innovative spatial design that can reflect the lifestyles of all family members, premium design products with technological capability, and integration with digital technology.” He continued, “In particular, as the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the time people spend at home, a new order and standards for residential spaces, including the bathroom, are being called for,” and added, “Saturnbath will actively take the lead in transforming a bathroom-centered residential culture that enables a variety of activities in the post-COVID era—health and hygiene, healing and rest, entertainment and exercise, and more.”
Sweeping Prestigious Domestic and International Design Awards, Captivating the World with Stable Quality and Design
Saturnbath approaches the bathroom not simply as a space that fulfills functions, but as a sustainable cultural space that fully reflects the culture of family members and elevates the value of life. The foundation of a bathroom that reflects the lives of family members is the integration of stable quality and premium design. Saturnbath already has an established reputation in the industry for its product strength, which commands a high level of design.
Since its founding in 1990, the company has won prestigious design awards around the world, including Korea’s Good Design (GD), Germany’s Red Dot Design, and iF Design, and through collaborations with overseas designers it holds numerous one-of-a-kind design collections found nowhere else in the world. Beginning in 2008 with the unveiling of an organically shaped bathtub and washbasin in collaboration with world-renowned designer Karim Rashid, Saturnbath has presented products and objets created in collaboration with Claudio Bellini, Inoda+Sveje, Song Seung-yong, Kim Hyun-beom, Moon Hee, and others. In particular, the ‘ASSEM’ bathtub, created in collaboration with artist Song Seung-yong—who is drawing attention in Europe—won the Gold Prize at the ‘2019 iF Design Award,’ gaining worldwide attention.
The company also makes continuous efforts to build its own in-house design capabilities. In 2008, Saturnbath established the ‘Bathroom Research Institute,’ a corporate-affiliated research center that is the only one of its kind in Korea recognized by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The Bathroom Research Institute receives support for its research and development activities under the supervision of the Korea Industrial Technology Association, and participates in the development and improvement of the bathroom products Saturnbath handles. The Bathroom Research Institute is involved in overall product development, including in-house design development, collaborative development with external designers, custom development for client companies, product accessory development, and product verification.
The foundation that enables Saturnbath to realize not only new product development but also globally recognized design collections lies in its technological capability to turn LAR (Liquid Acrylic Resin), a top-grade liquid acrylic material, into finished products. Saturnbath boasts Korea’s largest bathroom production facilities together with 31 years of know-how, and LAR, the material used for its bathtubs, is a top-grade material used by luxury bathtub brands in Italy, Spain, and elsewhere—earning the assessment that it is in no way inferior to high-priced imported bathtubs.
LAR (Liquid Acrylic Resin), the material used for bathtubs, washbasins, and the like, is a top-grade material used by luxury brands in Italy, Spain, and elsewhere. Imported entirely from the United Kingdom, its warm matte pure-white coloring and its soft, cozy texture like human skin create a high-class atmosphere. Manufactured by a casting process with no seams, it is hygienic and allows for consistently clean upkeep and maintenance, making it suitable for public facilities. It can express elegant designs that cannot be achieved with other materials.
Expanding Diverse Marketing Targeting Construction Firms, Remodeling·Reconstruction, and the Direct Consumer Market
Saturnbath is expanding its sales and marketing activities with stable quality and premium design as its competitive edge. In supplying the bathtubs, bathroom cabinets, washbasins, ceiling materials, and shower booths that make up the bathroom space, Saturnbath—moving beyond conventional B2B spec sales to construction firms—proposes more advanced bathroom designs based on custom designs optimized for each housing development site, and conducts paid-option sales at premium reconstruction housing sites. At the interior optional product event for the Gaepo Jugong Complex 1 reconstruction apartment ‘The H First Tier IPARK (6,702 households)’ in Gangnam, which opened in the second half of last year, Saturnbath’s premium bathtubs—including the LAR rectangular bathtub, air pool bathtub, and freestanding oval bathtub that were showcased through sponsorship of the film ‘Parasite’—were adopted, drawing attention. Saturnbath’s premium bathtubs are supplied to a wide range of sectors, including top-tier domestic and international hotels such as the Hyundai Seamarq Hotel, Paradise Hotel in Yeongjong-do, Walkerhill Hotel, and Andaz Hotel, as well as Incheon Airport and luxury villas. In particular, as the bathroom remodeling market has recently expanded, the company is strengthening marketing targeting the premium bathroom remodeling market. Saturnbath’s strategy is to target 25,000 households in the Jamsil area with bathroom design, product supply, and construction-linked services that enable innovative total bathroom remodeling.
With growing interest in interiors—encompassing construction firms and the reconstruction·remodeling market—Saturnbath is also expanding marketing activities aimed directly at consumers. Saturnbath continues marketing that broadens its points of contact with general consumers, such as participating in various design exhibitions and providing product sponsorships for broadcast dramas. It participated in the theme pavilion of ‘Gangnam Interior Design Week’ held in early June, sponsoring the ‘RIO’ bathtub and ‘ORBIS MINI’ bathtub—both of versatile design suited to the pavilion’s theme, ‘Joyful Hybrid.’ In addition, Saturnbath is exhibiting an NC bench that it designed and produced itself at the ‘Moomin Original: Moomin 75th Anniversary Special Original Artwork Exhibition,’ running until September 22 at ‘Ground Seesaw Seongsu,’ the second permanent exhibition hall of the multicultural complex ‘Ground Seesaw.’
Proposing Win-Win Cooperation Across the Industry with the 3D Visualization Software ‘Visoft’
In targeting the reconstruction housing market and the remodeling market, the 3D software ‘Visoft’ operated by Saturnbath serves as a key element in realizing the superior bathroom spaces that embody Saturnbath’s philosophy. Visoft is a program that plans, visualizes, and proposes bathroom interiors, and its library currently shares on the web the 3D data of products from more than 600 companies. Using the ‘Visoft 360’ feature, users can match wall and floor finishing materials to a space on a smartphone or tablet without any actual interior construction, and can examine Saturnbath’s bathtubs, washbasins, mirrors, and various bathroom accessories as they would appear in reality. During interior design, lists of products such as selected tiles or sanitary fixtures, along with prices and design drawings, are generated, serving as a catalyst for purchase and construction consultations between the interior company and the customer. By applying products and envisioning how they will look after construction, the tool makes it possible to propose and sell various aspects of the design process through 3D rendering—covering parts that cannot be adequately explained with two-dimensional drawings alone.
In particular, Saturnbath is pursuing win-win cooperation across the related industry through Visoft. Saturnbath’s headquarters offers free lectures to various groups, and the company plans to donate the program to design-related departments at major universities. Saturnbath CEO Jung In-hwan stated, “The Visoft program, which enables instant visualization in spatial design, brings a designer’s boundless inspiration to life and can respond immediately to customer demands, so it can be effectively used to transform the culture of residential spaces beyond the bathroom,” adding, “In this era where collaboration and convergence are increasingly valued, we will continue to take active steps to popularize Visoft for coexistence and mutual prosperity with the related industry.”
Love Calls from Overseas Construction Firms Won Over by the Design, Overseas Factory Under Construction
In its push into overseas markets as well, Saturnbath is establishing its standing as a full-fledged export company—for example, by supplying its designer bathtubs in bulk to a top-tier luxury apartment being built in Vietnam. Last year, Saturnbath completed the delivery of bathtubs to be installed in the first-phase sales portion of ‘The Metropole,’ a total of 1,350 households ordered by SonKim Land, Vietnam’s premier luxury apartment developer. SonKim Land’s ‘The Metropole’ is located in Thu Thiem, which is set to become Ho Chi Minh City’s foremost central district and where large-scale projects—including active construction sites by GS E&C and Lotte E&C—are underway; it is often called the Shanghai of China. Saturnbath plans to supply its diverse designer bathtubs to all households of ‘The Metropole’ across a total of three phases through 2022, and is expected to achieve export results amounting to approximately KRW 3 billion. Saturnbath CEO Jung In-hwan explained, “We have conducted business under the motto that ‘design competitiveness is export competitiveness,’ collaborating with world-renowned designers and, among other achievements, becoming the first in Korea’s bathroom sector to win a Gold Prize at the ‘iF Design Award,’” adding, “Starting with the export to ‘The Metropole’ in Vietnam, we will expand our export market targeting hotels, luxury residences, and villas in Vietnam, Thailand, and beyond.”
In particular, to stably cope with the increase in overseas export volume, the company has established a joint venture in Myanmar and is building its own factory. Once the factory is completed, the company plans to supply bathtubs that—with perfect technology and production lines—rival the world’s finest, and to devote its full efforts to overseas export sales with the goal of entering the European market and reaching KRW 10 billion in overseas exports within five years.
The bathroom is a space where the day begins and ends. It is the most comfortable space, a deeply private space, and a space where new imagination becomes possible. We look forward to Saturnbath—which proposes a bathroom space that embodies the value of family members’ lives and develops into culture—leaping forward, on the basis of its corporate philosophy, into a global company recognized around the world.
▲ ‘2021 Global Strong Small Enterprise’ banner image
▲ Saturnbath CEO Jung In-hwan
▲ The ‘ASSEM’ collection is a work created in collaboration between Saturnbath and artist Song Seung-yong—who is drawing attention in Europe for his unique ideas rooted in natural, unaltered beauty—and its bathtub won the Gold Prize at the ‘2019 iF Design Award.’ It is a new modular bathroom collection that creates diverse expressions of objets depending on the user’s choices and placement, through combinations of different parts.
▲ A bathroom interior rendered by the 3D software ‘Visoft’
▲ A bathroom interior rendered by the 3D software ‘Visoft’
▲ The ‘AKIN’ bathtub designed by Karim Rashid is characterized by the large angles at each corner that give a soft impression.
▲ The ‘ORBIS’ collection is the work of the design duo INODA+SVEJE, who have continued to pursue diverse design work applied to both the design process and aesthetics. Shaped as bubbles that naturally intersect with a quiet and static ZEN style, it well reveals Saturnbath’s philosophy of seeking harmony between technology and art. It won the main prize at the 2019 iF Design Award.
▲ In June, the company participated in the theme pavilion of ‘Gangnam Interior Design Week,’ sponsoring the ‘RIO’ bathtub and ‘ORBIS MINI’ bathtub of versatile design suited to the pavilion’s theme, ‘Joyful Hybrid.’
▲ The ‘Universal Design Slanted Cabinet’ is a product that won the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award at the 2020 Good Design (GD) awards. Because the mirror is angled, short children and elderly or infirm people in wheelchairs can use it conveniently. Designed at a bevel with an angled mirror, it is convenient for children, the elderly, and infirm people in wheelchairs to use. Compared with conventional cabinets, the universal bathroom cabinet offers about 22% more storage space and greater depth, eliminating the risk of towels catching or falling into the toilet when the door is opened or closed. In addition, since the mirror is positioned close by, shaving or applying makeup is convenient, and the shaving mirror can be replaced according to the user’s needs.
▲ At the ‘Moomin Original: Moomin 75th Anniversary Special Original Artwork Exhibition,’ Saturnbath presented an NC bench that it designed and produced itself. The exhibition runs until September 22 at ‘Ground Seesaw Seongsu,’ the second permanent exhibition hall of the multicultural complex ‘Ground Seesaw.’
▲ A bathroom sponsored for the tvN Wednesday–Thursday drama ‘True Beauty,’ proposed with the ‘Haute bathtub’ that highlights the male lead’s luxurious taste and chic sensibility, along with a matte black towel bar and lattice-patterned tiles to match the overall cool tone.
▲ The ‘TV bathtub’ designed by Karim Rashid, which lets you enjoy entertainment at the same time