Progress waits for no man and that includes in the bathroom. High-end European toilet manufacturers are bringing advanced electronic features to lavatory bowls including music, lights and intimate cleansing with water.
"Toilets had been developing rather unspectacularly for the last few years and now we're suddenly seeing huge jumps in progress," says Henning Senger of Aqua Cultura, a German bathroom fitters association.
A design which is increasingly being seen in the top German porcelain brands exported world-wide is the "shower toilet," such as Villeroy & Boch's ViClean, which incorporates bidet features into the WC.
"It's much more hygienic," says Jens J Wischmann of the Association of the German Sanitary Industry.
The direction, strength and temperature of the water and the drier can be changed according to preference and need.
The advanced technology was pioneered by Japanese makers, and the Europeans, initially slow to take up a feature demanded in many Asian and Muslim-culture countries, are now avid to incorporate it into their own designs.
"You can change the parameters with a remote control," says Senger.
"There are models with an LED nightlight function which is activated by movement," he adds. Other variations included heated seats and lids which open and shut on their own.
"There's even toilets with a memory function," says Senger. The toilets remember individual users' preferences, including their favourite music, and pipe it to them.
"It sounds a bit weird, but things like this aren't necessarily luxuries," he says.
"The shower toilet also enables older people who can't move as well to enjoy a high standard of hygiene."
German designers are also keen to make toilets easier on the eye.
"The designs have become slimmer and more sophisticated and fit in with the usual bathroom fittings," says Wischmann.
"Although they're good for your health, their modern design means they don't have that hospital appearance," he adds.
The health aspects of toilets could soon be a bigger design focus for German manufacturers.
"In Japan they already have toilets which can collect data on their users' health," says Wischmann.
Shower toilets don't need any more space than a normal toilet.
"Only people who use wheelchairs should plan to have enough room by the side of it so they can transfer," says Hans Klein, a master workman at the Guild of Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning.
Otherwise the only thing you need for a shower toilet is an extra power point. Prices begin at around 1,000 euros (1,133 dollars) and can skyrocket from there.
Another trend for German manufacturers, seen for example in Duravit's "Best Toilet," is a rimless design, which is supposedly more hygienic because the bowl does not have a rim under which bacteria can flourish and be difficult to clean away with a toilet brush.
"The rim was always a problem zone for toilets," says Wischmann.
It was meant to prevent water from overspilling, but the new rimless models have more control over the flow of the water and ensure it stays in the bowl.
"The water is shot into the bowl like a pinball and flushes it all around," says Wischmann.
All in all, the design is much easier to clean, an advantage not to be underestimated, according to bathroom fitter Klein.
"People don't just want bathrooms that are attractive, they should be convenient too," he says.
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