Celebrating 25 Years of Exceptional Bathroom Design

1998: Where It All Began

In 1998, Crosswater was founded by Dave Hance who, having clocked up several years of experience in the bathroom industry, decided he wanted to start his own business.

With £30,000 borrowed from family and friends ready to be invested into his new business venture, Dave took his first steps into creating Crosswater. Remembering those early days, he explains, "My third child had just been born, so it was a massive risk. I bought the name Crosswater for £50 from Companies House and my first day of trading was 13th November 1998. I made my first delivery a minute after midnight to an existing contact, transporting the goods in the back of my car from my premises to his."

Working from a small unit in Dartford, Dave did everything for himself, from sales invoicing to delivering orders. "I worked all the hours God gave, but the key thing was that I believed in myself. If you do that, you can do anything, within reason. I built the business from my mobile phone while I was on the road."

Crosswater's First Products

Dave's years of experience in the bathroom industry had given him the opportunity to visit trade shows in Italy and Germany. This experience sparked a keen interest in European bathroom trends and allowed him to recognise a potential gap in the UK market. Focused on filling that gap, Dave engaged with European suppliers known for their stunning brassware designs to improve the flow rate of their taps so that they would work in the UK where water supplies were largely low pressure at the time. Crosswater first hit the market with a tap called Mach II, swiftly followed by Olimpo, Creso and Zeus.

"Working closely with manufacturers enabled me to bring good looking but functional Italian brassware to the UK that was quite unlike anything available on the market here. The manufacturers I worked with were supportive of my dream to bring the product to the UK. Some people said it would never sell here, but I asked them to give me the opportunity and whacked it on display. We revolutionised the bathroom industry in terms of the style and design of brassware that was available in the late 1990s and the rest, as they say, is history!"

Business In the Early Years

Crosswater in the early years saw Dave out on the road every day working as a sales representative for the brand. As the business grew, a loyal and reliable team was built, employing good people to represent and work for the brand. This team were essential to building strong relationships with international suppliers.

"By the time there were five or six of us working in the business, I took everyone over to Italy and we played an England versus Italy match of five-a-side football against a team representing one of our Italian suppliers. It was this kind of thing that really helped us build the solid relationships that set us in such good standing for the future."

Despite the company's rapid growth in the early years, there were, of course, times of uncertainty and struggle. Dave revealed, "It was a real juggle, but I'm immensely proud of what we've achieved, particularly the merger with Bathroom Brands and attracting investments from an organisation as prestigious as Investec seven years ago."

Where The Company Is Today

Since its inception, Crosswater has grown significantly to become a leader in contemporary bathroom design. The most prominent development of the company happened in 2014 when the Bathroom Brands Group became the sole shareholder. Today, Crosswater sits under the Bathroom Brands Group umbrella along with three other brands, allowing it to grow from a company specialising in brassware into one that provides a comprehensive offering of complete bathroom solutions.

In the first year of trading, Crosswater turned over an impressive £907,000, but on the day it celebrated its 25th anniversary, the Bathroom Brands Group turned over more than £1 million in a single day, demonstrating just how far the brand has come.

Dave added, "I love the business as much today as I did when I first started. Although I'm enjoying the leisure of retirement, as a Non-Executive Director I still take a keen interest in the specification of Crosswater's brassware products.

What we've achieved wouldn't have been possible without the great team of people who have supported the business, day in, day out, since it first began. It gives me immense pride and happiness that those people have made Crosswater what it is today. I know it's in great hands with Stephen Ewer and the Executive Team taking it to the next level."

Not only has Crosswater developed from specialising in brassware to supplying full bathroom solutions, it has also changed its approach to product design. The extensive depth and breadth of both Crosswater's and Bathroom Brands Group's offerings as a whole show just how far the company has come with their dedication to bridging the gap between the luxury and opulence of high-end design and everyday consumer needs. Nothing shows this development more than Crosswater's most recent brassware releases - Foile, Limit, Lazo and 3ONE6 Lever - which showcase the combination of creative design, luxurious aesthetics and modern needs.

The Future of Crosswater

In recent times, Crosswater has placed a focus on creating experiences through both product and interior design. The expertise brought by our in-house design team allows us to create bathroom products that deliver beautiful experiences. The design process considers current trends along with a focus on what people need, how we can deliver unique experiences and how we can do this in a sustainable way.

When considering Crosswater's design vision, Head of Design, Jorge Hernandez adds, " Our aim is to develop products that aren't just generic bathroom products but products and experiences that are strongly connected to macro trends, the needs of modern ways of living and that are tailored to interior design projects as a whole. It's all about the feeling of the space and we want to provide the opportunity for customers and designers to express themselves. "

Our ambition is to be an internationally recognised and desired, design-led bathroom interiors company. Placing design at the heart of every aspect of the business brings with it a contributing community of people, both internally and externally. With key contacts, such as retailers and those within the A&D community, having a say in the design journey, we endeavour to continue developing bathroom products that people need and want.