Armera

Armera was set up in 2020 by four directors who had spent their careers on the other side of the bathroom industry, and it shows in how the range is put together. Rather than a catalogue of everything, there is one tightly edited collection where the furniture, basins, brassware, WCs and accessories are designed to go together – a single finish can be carried from the tap to the flush plate, the waste, the overflow ring and the hinge caps. The company calls it affordable luxury, and the phrase is fair: this is considered design at a sensible price rather than a statement piece.

Furniture comes in five families – Atoll, Palladium, Opa, Reef and Holloway – wall-hung, floor-standing and cloakroom, in colours that run from Walnut Noir to Claypit Green, with slabs, ceramic basins and countertop bowls to sit on them. Scene LED demister mirrors and mirror cabinets light them. Taps come in six ranges, Aeres, Latitude, Oculus, Maze, Vaere and Lantic, with matching Pivot, Criterion, Index and Landscape thermostatic valves, Rio riser kits and Domus heads for the shower, and Reina and Emblem accessories to finish. Maya and Anthem rimless WCs, concealed cisterns and coordinating flush plates complete it.

The guarantees are unusually long – twenty-five years on ceramic toilets and basins, fifteen on brassware, ten on furniture – and every product conforms to the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, with water-saving and flow-regulated technology throughout. Armera sells only through a small number of independent showrooms and deliberately not online, so the range is one you have to come and see. We hold it in Swansea, where you can put a hand on the drawer fronts and see the finishes properly under the lights.