After very successful 41 years with Duravit, Franz Kook, CEO of the giant Germany sanitaryware and bathroom fitting specialist, has retired and handed over to his successor Professor Dr Frank Richter. At the official goodbye last month, Gregor Greinhart, chairman of the executive board of Duravit AG, said: "Duravit stands for many characteristics that Franz Kook has always exemplified: love of detail, team spirit, entrepreneurial vision, diligence and perseverance. Without Mr Kook, Duravit would not be the company that it is today".

That company today is a €328m group active in more than 100 countries and with over 5, 400 employees worldwide. The company ethos was obviously set by Kook, who outlined his thoughts about the bathroom industry’s future a year ago: “We have to develop products that are desirable rather than necessary ... I hear my friends talking that way about their iPhones or iPad, but no one talks about bathrooms. That's changing with the way technology is coming into the bathroom, but the whole industry is aware that we have to do more interesting products and wake up the consumer's desire.

"We're in competition with cars, kitchens and other large purchases, but when it comes to quality of life your bathroom can play a very important role. My personal outlook is that this industry has a great future."

Richter was brought in from outside (he is a well known management consultant with several books to his name and a CV that including senior positions at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Co) and his brief is clearly to keep things tight while going in the same direction.