Finally the age of the sterile, hospital-style white shower seat is over.
Wet room specialist, Impey Showers, has revealed a revolutionary and style savvy new shower seat in association with a leading UK occupational therapist.
The SlimFold seat provides the perfect combination of safety, accessibility and style for the thousands of shower seat users in the UK and Europe.
Previously, the elderly and those with health or mobility issues had no option but to opt for a basic white, plastic clinical seat, but thanks to the design and engineering team at Impey Showers, the SlimFold has been launched.
Impey Showers developed this new-generation shower seat following feedback from customers and research that revealed that users found the ‘old fashioned’ seats unattractive, bulky and that they often created trip hazards. In some cases, the old style of shower seat also damaged floors and posed hygiene problems with joints and fittings often acting as dirt traps.
In response, Impey Showers’ design and engineering team got to work to create a safe, stylish and functional shower seat for the 21st century – the SlimFold.
Shower seats are an essential bathroom item for those with mobility issues or for people that simply want to shower seated. They enable a person to enjoy showering as independently as possible.
In an exciting advancement in shower seating, the SlimFold, as a seat and bench, is available in 10 colours allowing for versatile colour schemes and co-ordination which means the seats can appeal to customers of all ages and tastes.
Impey’s SlimFold can take up to 47 stone (300kgs) in weight and when folded has a super-slim profile of 111mm. The shower bench has a profile of 55mm. The thin profile enables the shower door to fold fully inwards without colliding with the seat.
An essential part of the development of the SlimFold involved teaming up with leading UK occupational therapist and interior designer, Elaine Hollerhead. She had been concerned about the lack of a modern, inclusively-designed shower seats available on the market for a number of years.
She said: “In my capacity as an occupational therapist, I have been concerned with of aesthetics, functionality and safety of most products available to the disabled and grey markets for many years, especially in relation to shower seats.
“I was delighted to be invited to develop the SlimFold with Impey Showers and finally create a product that elderly or disabled people will actually want to use.”
Neil Whitehead from Impey Showers, added: “We firmly believed that existing shower seat design needed to be evolved and improved to provide the healthcare market with an exciting, aspirational and safe product.
“This product is outstanding and has been designed with anyone in mind due to its look and feel. We’ve had extremely positive feedback from end users, retailers and healthcare professionals and we are positive that the SlimFold will change the shower seat market.”
The SlimFold has been engineered to ensure maximum strength, support and durability. The products include a double-curvature wall mount, cross-bracing support and triangular structure which can support a weight of up to 300kg (47 stone).
SlimFold can be fitted from heights of 417mm which ensures safe transfer between standing and sitting or from a wheelchair. There is no maximum height restriction.
The product is made from polyethelene which is ‘warm to the touch’, semi flexible, comfortable and non-abrasive.