Yet another defense of the residential urinal

Check out the Drop urinal from Hidra.

Hidra developed the Drop specifically for the residential market, they didn't adapt a commercial one for home use. That's how most residential urinals come to be by the way. A manufacturer takes something that's meant for heavy use and scales it back a little bit.

Hidra took another tack though, and the Drop never had an incarnation as a commercial product. To make it easier to fir into existing baths, the Drop has been made slimmer and taller. It's also a pretty attractive piece of porcelain.

For the life of me, I will never understand the widespread rejection of urinals for home use. Having half the population flush 1.6 gallons of fresh, potable water down the drain every time they need to dispose of about a pint of liquid is one of the more absurd practices of modern life. It's a terrible misuse of resources and people continue to do it because of a strange unease around urinals.

Sometimes that unease is warranted but not for the reasons you may think. I was in Spain with my great friend Bob Borson earlier this year and he had encounter with a urinal in Valencia that has to be read to be appreciated.

Anyhow, back to the business of urinals. Think of it this way, if there's a man or men in the house and there's a urinal present, toilet seats can be kept down. That alone would make the divorce rate plummet.

If you're contemplating a bathroom remodel and there are men who will be affected by the renovation, consider installing a urinal in your new bath. The men involved will be thrilled and you'll cut down your water use significantly. At this stage of the game, who wouldn't welcome a lower utility bill?

You can find the Drop and more cool bath stuff on Lazio-based Hidra's website.

I apologize to the world for my design crimes

Over the course of my career as an active kitchen and bath designer, I designed more master baths that looked like this than I care to admit. I always hated these cookie-cutter exercises in more is more, but clients wanted them and they were happy with the finished projects. No harm done, right?

Wrong. A little part of me died every time I set out to design one of these things. Look at it. It's utterly devoid of character or personality. It's as if it were designed for a future listing agent instead being designed for the person who paid for it and uses it every day. In fact, it was designed for a resale might happen in some time in the future. How is that any way to live or to make your house a home?

It's beyond ironic that as the sun was setting on my career as a retail designer, I ended up at two major trade shows in Europe that showed me another way to look at bath design. Another show over there I'd love to see  starts this week in Frankfurt. That show is ISH and it's the holy of holies of the bath world.

In advance of ISH, German manufacturer Duravit released the Onto series by designer Matteo Thun. Onto is everything the bath above is not.

Duravit's Onto is beautifully designed and unique. It's made to last and it thumbs its nose at that future listing agent. It has a few other things going for it that aren't so apparent. It uses fewer resources, look great in a smaller room and it provides adequate storage. I'm calling it adequate storage for a reason.

I used to think that the world's ills could be solved by providing people with more storage. But the more I think about it the more that I see that providing more storage only encourages people to fill that storage with more stuff. Now I think the answer isn't to find more storage, it's to accumulate less crap. Adequate storage means enough space to put away a reasonable amount of stuff. Keep it coming Duravit.

More cool bath ideas from Spain

The Spanish tile industry is better described as the Spanish ceramics industry. Many of the major Spanish tile producers also make sinks, toilets, bathtubs and vanity counters.

While I was in Spain with Tile of Spain last month, I had the chance to see some bath designs from Tau Cerámica. I think they're noteworthy for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that they integrate tile onto cabinet doors and counters. Here's what I'm talking about.

That vanity is faced in white tile. But it gets even more interesting if you look at it more closely.

The accent tile on the wall is called Point. Tau recreated Point's pattern on a laminate and used the laminate for accents on the vanity cabinet. It's subtle and pretty clever effect.

Here's another one that integrates the wall tile onto the vanity itself.

I love how graphic this last one is. Again, it's playing off the tile on the wall by integrated that tile onto itself.

I'm also growing obsessed with the idea of vitreous china vanity tops that have integrated sinks. Talk about easy to clean.

I'll see Tau and a couple of hundred other tile manufacturers next week in Las Vegas for Coverings. I'll be reporting about the things I see there, you can count on it. In the meantime, take a look at Tau's website where you can look through their catalogs and find out where you can buy their products. In addition to their website, Tau keeps up a pretty lively presence on Facebook. Go like them. If that weren't enough, Tau also has a large number of photographs they've uploaded to Flickr. Give them a look.

My trip to Spain with Tile of Spain impacted me pretty profoundly. Being in Spain was incredible enough but I notice that since I've been back I'm having an increasingly difficult time seeing the virtue of American-style bath design. I'll get over it eventually, but I sort of hope I don't.

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec rethink the bathroom for Axor

While I was in Germany last month I saw this vanity. Notice how the shelf over the sink is also the faucet.

Pretty cool idea and I love all of the tiered surfaces surrounding that sink. I learned while I was there that this sink and shelf are part of a new collection from Axor, the leading edge of the Hansgrohe brand. Brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec designed a collection of some 70 components that are intended to be mixed and matched to make a fully custom bath design.

A big part of that is that the sinks and tubs aren't pre-dilled. All you need is a carbide-tipped bore and you can have your faucets be anywhere you want them. That is a great idea. Here are some glamor shots of the collection.

My pals at Hansgrohe tell me that the Axor Bouroullec is already available in Europe and will be coming to North America this summer. You can see all of the components from the Axor Bouroullec on Axor's international website.

Finally; Something new, gorgeous, European and available in North America

This is the Tuna wash basin from the Swiss manufacturer Laufen. How it gets its name is pretty self-evident. It's slick, streamlined and I think it's absolutely beautiful. There's a growing trend to have the sink and counter be made from the same vitreous china as a single piece and this is one of the loveliest expressions of that trend I've ever seen.

I've spent the last five weeks looking over and writing about beautiful new products that aren't available in North America and it's a real pleasure to write about one that's actually here. Thank you Laufen.

A Houzz-ian round up

Here's a re-cap of the stuff I've been writing over at Houzz.com. If you're not already a Houzz fan, poke around on that site, there's a lot to explore.

Straight From Spain: Amazing New Trends in Tile

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Browse by Space and Style- For Example:

Modern Kitchen · Mediterranean Bathroom · Traditional Living Room · Mediterranean Bedroom · Eclectic Dining Room · Modern Homes · Modern Patio · Traditional Landscaping ·

Special Report: Bath Trends From Valencia

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Browse by Space and Style- For Example:

Mediterranean Kitchen · Traditional Bathroom · Modern Living Room · Modern Bedroom · Traditional Dining Room · Modern Homes · Contemporary Patio · Modern Landscaping ·

Alternatives to Granite Countertops, Part III

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Browse by Space and Style- For Example:

Mediterranean Kitchen · Tropical Bathroom · Modern Living Room · Tropical Bedroom · Eclectic Dining Room · Tropical Homes · Modern Patio · Eclectic Landscaping ·

Special Report: Design News from Toronto

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Find Home Improvement Professionals- For Example:

New York Architect · New York Interior Designer · San Francisco Contractor · Chicago Landscaping ·

Bath trends from Spain

As I've been saying all week, Tile of Spain had me in Spain for eight days to learn about the culture and people of Spain and to attend Cevisama. Cevisama is a massive trade show that celebrates the Spanish tile, natural stone and bath industries.

I'm a trade show veteran and have been to more kitchen, bath, tile and stone trade shows than I can count. But this last month has had me in three major trade shows outside of the US and it's been an eye-opening experience to say the least. I have volumes to say on that topic but I'll save that for later.

Here are some of the highlights of the bath designs I saw at Cevisama. As you look through these designs, pay attention to the shapes, colors and ideas. Most of this stuff will never make it to North America but the ideas behind the designs will. Eventually.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

So there you have it, my highlights from Cevisama. Is there anything in those photos that moves you for better or worse? What do you think of the idea of suspended vanities? How about the idea of giving yourself less storage on purpose? Think about it, if you can store less stuff that means you have to have less stuff. I find that appealing but I have a feeling that I'm a minority in that opinion. I've numbered all of my photos here so let me know which one's your favorite and which one's your least favorite.

Again, a thousand thank yous to Tile of Spain for the opportunity to explore the Spanish design scene.

¡Viva La España!

I am in Spain. Actually, I'm probably not there yet but I'm en route. I've been invited to Spain by ASCER, a Spanish Trade organization that promotes Spanish tile sales in North America under the name Tile of Spain.

I'm part of a small group of designers, architects and press who will spend the next eight days exploring Spain's historic and modern architecture in the cities of Zaragoza, Teruel and Valencia. Our arrival in Valencia next week coincides with the opening of Cevisama, Spain's international showcase for tile, natural stone and bath design.

I'll be checking in regularly with Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare. Additionally, I'll be updating this blog (albeit sporadically) and writing for Contract Design and Houzz.com. This will be a well-documented trip indeed. Let's go to Spain!

Greetings from the International Builder's Show

Greetings from the Orange County Convention Center in finger-splittingly cold Orlando Florida. Actually, I'm already on my way home by the time you're reading this. These last three days have been spectacular. The new stuff I saw, the great people I met up with, it's been a real whirlwind.

Of all the great things I saw, there are a few that really stood out. The first is Brizo's new lavatory faucet called the Siderna. In addition to being really beautiful and sleek, there's a lot of sophisticated engineering hiding underneath it.

Check out this handle.

What's really wild about it is that those handles don't have the typical set screws that lock down a handle. Instead of set screws, the handle's held in place with really strong, rare-earth magnets.

It took the jaws of life to pry this handle off. I never would have guessed that a magnet could hold a faucet handle in place, let alone hold it in place so tenaciously.

Thanks to Brizo's generosity, I have seen that Siderna before, but only as a prototype. The last time I saw it was about a year ago when it was a working model. It's a rare and cool, cool thing to watch a product go from an idea in an industrial designer's head to a real product that anybody can buy.

From Merillat, I saw their new Pantry Corner, corner base cabinet. The cabinet industry has always been a very top-down industry when it comes to innovation. New, interesting products, start at the top of the market and work their way down. Merillat is a budget-friendly, value cabinet line. They're a well-built cabinet and they're sold at a price point that can't be beat. Typically, their notable innovations have come from things like that price point or the fact that they have a five-day production time. Five days for made-to-order cabinets. That's pretty innovative.

Well, this time, they're turned the tables a bit and they've come up with a corner base cabinet that the high-end, custom brands will be following.

This is the Corner Pantry.

It's a corner cabinet with three, very deep drawers in the center.

On each side of the drawers, there's a pull-out storage cabinet that's large enough to actually use.

Very smart and a much more efficient use of a kitchen corner than a lazy susan.

A week ago, I ran a couple of posts on a new series of laminates from Formica, the 180fx series. Prior to Wednesday, I'd only seen samples and a real highlight of the show was seeing 180fx laminates in person.

That they look so spectacular on photos is not a PhotoShop trick, Formica is in the throes of turning the laminate world around and in doing so they are reinvigorating and unfairly maligned product category. So bravo to the Formica Corporation.

I'll probably have another blog post or two about IBS 2011 and then it's off to Germany for IMM and a series of factory tours that have been arranged for me and five of my pals by Blanco sinks.