Our bathrooms know a lot about us. From our favourite shower tunes, to whether we scrunch or fold, to what state we leave it in for the next person. But Natalie Bradburn, the designer behind Clean Clean Clean, thinks we don’t give our bathrooms enough attention in return. Especially when it comes to colour.
“About eight out of 10 bathrooms are white… There’s no personality,” she tells Broadsheet. “There are not a lot of alternatives [on the market] to say: ‘Hey, this is who I am and this is what I want my house to feel like.’”
Clean Clean Clean is flipping that narrative with its colourful range of striking and swirly shelves for toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, soap and other necessities. The powder-coated aluminium hygiene stations come in a handful of sizes and hues – from burnt orange to buttery yellow to monstera green – making them ideal for injecting colour into bathrooms of any size or palette.
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SUBSCRIBE NOWMost Clean Clean Clean pieces include Bradburn’s signature toothbrush holder – a slotted fixture that promises to fit “every manual and electric toothbrush we could find” – while the larger shower shelf features a perforated section for soap suds drainage.
Making bathrooms brighter and bolder wasn’t always the plan for Bradburn, whose academic past includes stints studying fashion, interior design and architecture. It was in architecture school that she became fascinated with the bathroom, mostly because it was so unappealing to her teachers and peers.
“They would always say, ‘Don't get stuck designing bathrooms.’ So I kind of gathered this idea in architect school. Why is the bathroom such an undesirable place to work in?”
Years later, while on maternity leave, Bradburn noticed a stench in her own bathroom. It was coming from the makeshift toothbrush holder above the sink. “This beautiful ceramic mug cup had bits of dust, water and toothpaste that had trickled down, and it was filthy. And our toothbrushes were sitting in it,” she says.
Bradburn spent months designing a shelf, and created one that harks back to the freestanding toothbrush holders of the 20th century. “I didn't really mean to develop it as a product for sale, I just wanted to resolve it for myself.”
Today, all of Clean Clean Clean’s pieces are designed by Bradburn in her studio in Whanganui, and crafted by makers and manufacturers in Wellington and across the North Island, she says. “Physically making things isn't my specialty. But I like finding the right people, working with them and understanding the tools behind the design.”
Beyond the nifty fixtures, Bradburn also transforms people’s bathrooms through custom fit-outs, from full renovations to one-off colourful basins and bathtubs. Her expert tip for bathroom styling? Make it a space that you can enjoy.
“You spend a lot of time in the bathroom: brushing your teeth, washing your hands, showering, taking a shit. There’s no space where you’re more vulnerable,” she says. “So make yourself feel comfortable and make it reflect who you are, not what you can buy at Mitre 10. Oh, and bring in some colour.”
The Clean Clean Clean range is available online. Wares start around $59 for a short yet smart toothbrush shelf and go up to around $179 for a longer shower shelf.
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