Natalie Bradburn's CLEANCLEANCLEAN dives deep into the underrated world of the bathroom

Natalie Bradburn, founder of small Whanganui business CLEANCLEANCLEAN. Photo / Supplied

Whanganui architect and designer Natalie Bradburn believes bathrooms are one of the most overlooked spaces in a home.

And that's something she wants to change with her business CLEANCLEANCLEAN.

She started the venture two years ago but last month stopped taking on other work to pursue the business of researching and designing products for bathrooms fulltime.

"The bathroom is working really hard compared to other spaces," Bradburn said.

She said a big part of bathroom architecture was keeping the water out, while simultaneously introducing water.

That made detailing and weatherproofing big parts of the job.

"People spend more time in the bathroom than they think throughout the day," she said.

"You go to the toilet, wash your hands, brush your teeth, and have a shower.

"So much happens in the bathroom, and generally it's such a tiny room."

Bradburn said in the tiniest space people typically fit a toilet, a shower and basin, and sometimes a bath.

"I think that's absurd, and it's a room that's not considered enough for such a complex space.

"It's also such a private, intimate space. More intimate and high functioning than any other space I think."

CLEANCLEANCLEAN's first product is designer toothbrush shelves.

The idea came when Bradburn discovered a "disgusting smell" in her bathroom was the slime in the bottom of her toothbrush cup.

"The cup was beautiful, but there was so much gunk on the inside.

"So I thought I'd take this one problem as a starting point, which resulted in the toothbrush shelves."

Bradburn now has several stockists selling the shelves, across New Zealand and Australia.

The shelves are made of aluminium at Whanganui's own Elite Engineering in Castlecliff where they use a water jet to cut them into shape before folding them.

They then get passed next door to Spectrum Coating where they get their alluring colours applied.

"I really wanted to have heaps of colours because that's something lacking in modern bathrooms. You go to a shop and there will be mostly white, black, chrome, or bronze."

She said she tries to use colours that are no longer made but there's still stock around aka "dead-stock colours".

"[Bathrooms have] become so standardised and there's so much more to it that I want to look into it and contribute."

She said she wants to reconsider as many objects in the bathroom and how people use them as she can through CLEANCLEANCLEAN.

"Which is why I'm doing it full-time now. I have a long list of things to make."

The toothbrush shelf idea arose as a way to get rid of the gunk at the bottom of the toothbrush cup. Photo / Supplied

A former interior design student, Bradburn studied architecture before working as an architectural graduate in between having her two children.

She said the Irish architect Eileen Gray was one of her greatest role models throughout her career.

"She designed lots of amazing furniture and considered the whole home and how people operated within it. Every piece of furniture was sensitive to the way people might interact with it.

"I use this idea with my products and way of living, always thinking about architecture and spaces from the point of view of the body interacting with it and how the space and objects can support the ways we live."

Bradburn also designs bathrooms, taking on only one or two clients at a time.

"It also acts as a sort of acts as a testing ground for research. Then within that, I imagine making products that best support their brief and space rather than thinking about what the best product is for everyone in all the world."