A bathroom with a strong Oriental theme was enough to win a prestigious prize for a Galway design student – seeing off national competition in the process.

Technological University Dublin student Honor Curé from Kilcolgan was announced as the winner of the 2025 Bathroom Designer of the Year Award, sponsored by leading bathroom designers Sonas.

The daughter of Marcel Curé and artist Róisín Curé, she started her design journey in Galway Technical Institute moving to TUD where she is currently a third-year student of the Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in Design.

Honor said she was ‘absolutely thrilled’ with her win.

“I believe that the bathroom should be a space of serenity and calm, where you can give your body the care that it deserves and shut off your mind for a few moments from all your day-to-day thoughts or worries,” she said.

“I am delighted that the judges understood what I was trying to achieve,” she added.

The judges praised her bathroom ‘for its design originality and the specific combination of colours and materials that were very arresting’.

“The concept of oriental chinoiserie, with the use of gold in the panels and the way this highlighted the Sonas brass fittings was stunning,” they said.

“The high gloss wood and wonderful colours made this a very exotic space.  In terms of the Sonas goal to enable people to reimagine their bathrooms, this had it all.

“It was wonderful to see the Sonas products used to get a stunningly individual, unique and different bathroom design result,” they added.

Pictured: Honor Curé’s bathroom took first prize for great design originality.