Potty Party

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

What exactly goes down at the opening party for a new high-end toilet showroom? At the opening of Duravit in Midtown East, "the heavily European crowd munched on caramelized pear and fontina tartlets and ogled the sleek porcelain glory of the potties on display...Who are all these people, I wondered, sipping Champagne in a room full of toilets? And so I asked. Some were journalists (Surface, Dwell, Kitchen and Bath Design News all sent correspondents); some were architects; some were design geeks; but few were American." [Moment]