The Veil: How a Toilet Became a Combination of Art and Technology
Lucky for us, we live in a time when toilets are a ubiquitous feature in home design. And for the most part, they have looked the same for about a century. They have a tank to hold the water until a flush is requested, a handle to create the flush, a seat where we sit and a “bowl” to catch…well, you know the drill. Along the way, companies have tried to tweak the norm with a new color or slightly different tank trim, but toilets have been toilets. Until 2015, when Kohler introduced The Veil. Heralded as the “Smart Toilet of the Future,” it looked different and performed in new ways. Like many cutting-edge technologies, it’s taken a little time for this sleek personal hygiene machine to be embraced and now it's showing up in lots of bathrooms…maybe even yours.
From Stadiums and Sailing Ships to Your Bathroom
Kohler’s Veil smart toilet design project team was charged with creating a space-saving toilet with ultra-responsive bidet functionality. As part of their mission, the team was determined to disrupt the current expectation of toilet design and refine and soften the profile of this bathroom fixture. Where did they start? They were inspired by the architecture of the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa. Yes, really. 
And when you Google this structure, there are many photos that make you understand why a huge, graceful building with a large hole in the top might be a perfect place to start noodling on this project.
From there, they sketched and sketched, deciding on “a slightly bowed seat cover with a very tight radius that captures the elegance of precision,” according to Kohler’s design blog. They envisioned that the lift at each end of the cover would evoke the lines of a sailing vessel and give the design a “surprising lightness.”
The look is clean and the technology…amazing.
The tank is concealed behind the wall, to allow The Veil’s graceful, sweeping shape to stand sleek and unencumbered. And it has a long list of functionalities, including heated seat, automatic flushing and bidet integrated in one piece, night light and automated deodorizer, rimless bowl for easier cleaning and intuitive motion-activated, hands-free opening and closing cover. The Comfort Height® feature offers chair-height seating that makes sitting down and standing up easier for many adults. The stainless-steel bidet wand offers adjustable spray shape, position, water pressure, temperature, pulsate and oscillate functions. The self-cleaning feature uses UV light and electrolyzed water systems to automatically clean the wand surfaces. Warm air drying completes the comfort and hygiene system. The motion-activated, hands-free Quiet-Close™ ensures a soft return of the cover.
Engineered with a double siphonic flushing system, The Veil uses dual jets that produce efficient and powerful siphoning action that conserves water. The intelligent auto-flush technology detects the requirement for either full or half flush, and has the option for a manual flush in case the power goes out. And an easy-to-use LCD touch-screen remote will make operations easy and seamless. No, you don’t need an engineering degree to use it. The Kohler experts at Sink & Spout will help you get started and always be just a phone call away if you have questions after your Veil is installed.
Sink & Spout is home to the largest Kohler inventory in New England and our associates in all 15 showrooms have extensive training in Kohler products and design trends, including everything you need to know about The Veil.