The Jason Wu collection for Brizo

Brizo has been collaborating with fashion designer Jason Wu since 2006 and after a five year affiliation, Brizo and Jason just announced the launch of  their long-awaited, Jason Wu-designed powder room suite, The Jason Wu for Brizo Collection. Check out this video announcing the collection.




I can't think of anybody who's selling bath fixtures quite like that. Wow.

The central motif of the collection is something Jason calls his Baroque Flower and all of the individual components feature a matte black finish (a first for Brizo) with either chrome or brushed nickel accents.

Tissue holder

Liquid soap dispenser

Soap dish

Front-mount tank lever

Side-mount tank lever

Waste basket

Drawer pull

Most notable is the faucet at the center of the collection the Jason Wu for Brizo Odin. I've been fortunate over the years to see that faucet as a number of prototypes and it's a particular thrill to see it in production. Brizo has been utilizing touch controls for the last few years, but this faucet adds a proximity sensor in addition to its touch control. A proximity sensor turns a faucet on and off any time hands come within four inches of the faucet.

They've also added a subtle LED light to the base of the faucet. That LED is a temperature indicator with red being hot, blue being cold and varying shades of magenta to indicate the various degrees of warm between the two extremes.

Here's another video where Jason and Judd Lord, the head of industrial design at Brizo discuss the collection.




The collection goes on sale this spring, but you can pre-order the components now on Brizo's website.

Adventures in shower pans, Italian style

At Cersaie in Bologna last September I saw all kinds of amazing innovations and new products, many of which were making their world debut in Bologna that week. Worldwide, the tile industry is more properly known as the ceramics industry, and a large component of the world ceramics industry is bath design.

Two Italian manufacturers came up with interesting ways to deal with a shower pan this year and both companies are onto what I say is the next big thing in shower design. The first of these innovations is Rapsel's Pianolegno. I'm showing it here with their Pluviae shower fixture.

By the way, Pianolegno means wooden floor in Italian and Pluviae is French for rain.

The Pianolegno is a teak grid that fits into a stainless steel shower pan that's been countersunk into the floor. The pan looks like this and can also be used on its own without the teak inserts.

Here's how it looked when I saw it at Rapsel's booth at Cersaie. It's been paired here with Rapsel's Cobra shower.

Pretty slick. Check out the rest of Rapsel's wares on their website.

Another great innovation I saw in this department is the Volo from Flaminia. Volo means flight for what it's worth.

The Volo is a ceramic, basket weave grate that sits in a ceramic pan. That pan can be countersunk into the floor or it can sit on top of the floor. If it's sitting on the floor, it's make a small step up obviously.

Here's how it looked at Faminia's booth,

and here's a detail of the grate.

Flaminia has an enormous collection of bath products and you can see them on Flaminia's website.

Granted, these two products are still kind of edgy to North American eyes, but could you ever see using something like this in your own home? Does the idea of a shower without a curb, meaning it's flush with the floor appeal to you?

Seeing solid surface in a new light

In the last 11 months I've been fortunate to attend nearly 20 trade venues in six countries and in each of those venues I've seen such things that I thought my eyes were deceiving me half the time. Due to my experiences in Europe in particular, I've come to see solid surface in a whole new way. This post is illustrated with sinks and vanities designed by Marike Andeweg  and her Netherlands-based studio, Not Only White. Not Only White's work is a great example of using solid surface in a new, and stunning way.

Throughout my design career, I'd been conditioned to turn up my nose at solid surface whenever and wherever I saw it. I'm old enough to remember when Corian hit the market and I still cringe at the thought of coral-colored Corian with white swirls.

When I started designing kitchens, the move to granite counters was just getting underway and anyone who was designing then pushed stone over solid surface in our quests to deliver high-end designs. My solid surface sample boxes sat unloved and unused for years.

My bias against solid surface seemed hard-wired.

But a funny thing happened as I was walking around at IMM in Cologne last January. There was solid surface everywhere. There were counters of course, but also furniture, sinks, vanities and more accessories than I could count.

A couple of weeks later in Spain I saw solid surface toilets and bathtubs. The stuff was all over Europe it seemed. I saw Not Only White's brilliant sinks and vanities at 100% Design in London's Earl's Court in September. I was in London as part of the inaugural Blog Tour and by then my knee-jerk, bad reaction to solid surface was but a memory and I could appreciate the beauty of Not Only White's products.

And they are beautiful. They use solid surface in a way that makes jaded design people like me stop and think, "Oooooh, what's that?" I love the idea that their hand washing sinks are so small, that their vanity sinks are so shallow and use interesting drains and I love the simplicity of all of it.

To see the rest of Not Only White's collections, check out their website and give some thought to what's possible with solid surface.

How to deal with a washing machine

In Europe, where to put the washing machine takes on an importance that's not the case in the US or Canada. Since homes tend to be smaller there and space tends to come at a premium how to deal with laundry is not something to be taken lightly. When I was in Italy for Cersiae last month, I saw what has to be the best integration of a washing machine with a bathroom ever.

The manufacturer is Geromina and since nobody in Italy seems to have any use for a dryer I'm going to assume that the machine shown is a washer only. What do you think? Would you integrate a washing machine into a bath?

Bath trends, a Bathroom Blogfest post

Every year at this time, bloggers from all over the world weigh in on the topic of baths. The Bathroom Blogfest has been going on for six years and the topic for 2011 is "Climbing Out." Not in the sense of climbing out of the commode but in the sense of climbing out of recession.

I've been fortunate to spend a fair amount of time abroad this year and in walking around a bath trade show in Europe, one would be hard-pressed to notice that there's a global recession on. While in the US, people seem thrilled to wallow in the economic doldrums, in Europe people can't shed them fast enough.

The key word over there right now is color and I hope with everything I have that the economic optimism I've seen in Europe this year extends across the Atlantic, and soon. While economic conditions in the EU are bad, they are addressing them. Unlike here in the US where everybody seems to want to point fingers and whine about the price of groceries.

As bad as things are in the US, I'm convinced that the first Economics teacher I ever had was right, recessions are psychological. So while the US languishes in shades of gray, the EU loves color. Here are some shots I took of Cersaie, the tile and bath show I went to in Bologna a few weeks ago.

See all that color? Good to moderate times are coming, I believe that with every fiber of my being. So long as the Tea Party implodes that is. Sorry to get political. Kind of. Anyhow, here are some examples of the bright colors I've seen in the EU.

Between the amazing colors and shapes on display in Bologna this year, I'm beginning to think that there is a way out. Endless thanks to Tiles of Italy for getting me to Bologna and for letting this blogger know that there's a thread or two of hope out there.

Name	Blog Name	Blog URL
Susan Abbott	Customer Experience Crossroads	http://www.cust omercrossroads.com/customercrossroads/
Paul Anater	Kitchen and Residential Design	http://www.kitchenandresi dentialdesign.com
Shannon Bilby	From the Floors Up	http://fromthefloorsup.com/
Toby Bloomberg	Diva Marketing	http://bloom bergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/
Laurence Borel	Blog Till You Drop	http://www.laurenceborel.com/
Bill Buyok	Avente Tile Talk	http://tiletalk.blogspot.com
Jeanne Byington	The Importance of Earnest Service	http://blog.jmbyington.com/
Becky Carroll	Customers Rock!	http://customersrock.net
Katie Clark	Practical Katie	http://practicalkatie.blogspot.co m/
Nora DePalma	O'Reilly DePalma: The Blog	http://www.oreilly-depalma.com/b log/
Paul Friederichsen	The BrandBiz Blog	http://brandbizblog.com/
Tish Grier	The Constant Observer	http://spap-oop.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth Hise	Flooring The Consumer	http://flooringtheconsumer.b logspot.com
Emily Hooper	Floor Covering News Blog	http://www.fcnews.net/category/b log/
Diane Kazan	Urban Design Renovation	http://blog.urbandesignrenovat ion.com
Joseph Michelli	Dr. Joseph Michelli's Blog	http://www.josephmichelli.com/blog
Veronika Miller	Modenus Blog	http://www.modenus.com/blog
Arpi Nalbandian	Tile Magazine Editors' Blog	http://www.tile magonline.com/Articles/Blog_Nalbandian
David Polinchock	Polinchock's Ponderings	http://blog.polinchock.com/
Professor Toilet	American Standard's Professor Toilet	http://www.professortoilet.com
David Reich	my 2 cents	http://reichcomm.typepad.com
Victoria Redshaw & Shelley Pond	Scarlet Opus Trends Blog	http://www.trendsblog.co.uk
Sandy Renshaw	Purple Wren	http://www.PurpleWren.com
Bethany Richmond	Carpet and Rug Institute Blog	http://www.carpet-and-r ug-institute-blog.com/
Bruce D. Sanders	RIMtailing	http://www.rimtailing.blogspot.co m
Paige Smith	Neuse Tile Service blog	http://neusetile.wordpress.com/
Stephanie Weaver	Experienceology	http://experienceology.blogspot. com/
Christine B. Whittemore	Content Talks Business Blog	http://sim plemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/
Christine B. Whittemore	Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog	http://smokerise-nj.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore	Simple Marketing Blog	http://www.simplemarketingblog.co m/
Ted Whittemore	Working Computers	http://www.kinneloncomputers.com/
Chris Woelfel	Artcraft Granite, Marble & Tile Co.	http://www.artcraftgmt.com
Patty Woodland	Broken Teepee	http://www.brokenteepee.com/
Denise Lee Yohn	brand as business bites	http://deniseleeyohn.com/best-bit es

Hansgrohe and Axor are giving away a $10,000 bathroom

Do you want your life to look like this?

How about a bath that looks like this?

To celebrate their new Facebook page, Hansgrohe and their designer brand Axor are giving away $10,000 in bath fixtures. There's no trick or trial to go through in order to qualify. All you need to do is go to Hansgrohe's new Facebook page, give it a like and then fill out the entry form. The contest is running from now through October 31st, but don't put it off.

I take a shower every morning under a Hansgrohe fixture, I have the Pura Vida handheld and I love it. Though given the option, I'd add a few more fixtures to my set up. With $10 grand worth of Hansgrohe and Axor shower stuff I don't doubt for a second that my life would end up looking like this.

So go register on Hansgrohe's new Facebook page today.

Check out my Cat Island/ Hurricane Irene fundraiser too if you'd be so kind.

My shower? Why yes, it's a Speakman

Until a month ago, my shower life looked like this.

via

But in early May, the Speakman Company sent me this chrome beauty,

And now my shower life looks something more like this.

via

That's a bit of an exaggeration but not really.

My new shower head is Speakman's Neo, model S-3010, and I've enjoyed my test drive with it for the last couple of weeks so much that I'm going to keep it.

Speakman's Neo features five adjustable stream nozzles and 12 massage jets in a standard size, 2gpm shower head. At two gallons per minute, it's considered to be a low-flow fixture. Low-flow fixture used to be a kiss of death but Speakman's technology harnesses those two gallons for all they're worth. If I didn't know it were a low-flow head I'd never believe it.

My Neo has another Speakman innovation that I'm quite impressed with. Normally, a shower head has a series of flow settings that you click through one by one. All Speakman shower heads feature something called Anystream. Anystream is a 360 degree adjuster that allows the spray settings to flow into each other infinitely. This allows for a perfectly adjusted shower and because there are no locking parts, virtually assures a long life.

Add to all of that this shower resists sediment build up and clogs all by itself and I'm sold.

You can find Speakman shower products, faucets, valves, safety products and HVAC solutions at better dealers just about everywhere and you can also buy a Speakman Neo just like mine on their website.

Want to be a hero every morning?

This is the new Spider shower head from Italian manufacturer Visentin.

It can be ceiling or wall mounted and each the the mini shower heads can be positioned independently. Visentin is not the first manufacturer to play around with this shower configuration. I find them to be interesting but not for the reasons Visentin wants me to.

When I see these shower heads, I see the head of Medusa.

Head of Medusa by Caravaggio, 1595

Medusa was a Gorgon, one of three terrifying sisters who wreaked havoc across the the landscape of classical antiquity.

Medusa started out as a ravishing beauty and a priestess in Athena's temple. She had a lot of luck with gentlemen callers but pressed her luck too far by bedding down Poseidon in the temple itself. This enraged Athena (who wouldn't be enraged?) so Athena turned Medusa into a hag and transformed her glorious hair to snakes.

Enter Perseus. Perseus was a hero-in-the-making and his mother was about to be wed against her wishes to King Polydectes of Seriphos. Polydectes send Perseus to go retrieve Medusa's head because he wanted to give it as a gift. Perseus enlisted the help of Anthena and Hermes who gave him a Cap of Invisibility, a sword, a mirrored shield and a pair of winged sandals; and off to work he went. By using the cap of invisibility and the mirrored shield, Perseus got close enough to Medusa to behead her without ever having to look at her.

Perseus holding the head of Medusa, a photo I took on an archeological dig in Castellamare della Stabia in southern Italy.

Once he had the head, Perseus flew back to Seriphos, showed the head to Polydectes and turned him to stone, thus saving his mother from a marriage she didn't want to go through with. He later gave the head to Athena who attached it to her shield and ended up with the ultimate revenge on the fornicating Medusa.

Perseus with the Head of Medusa, Benvenuto Cellini, 1554. Perseus looks poised to take a shower in this statue or am I just imagining things?

The moral of the story? Take your pick. Never fool around with a god in another god's temple, no matter how good he looks or the kinds of promises he makes. He's going to get away Scot free and you're going to have to deal with some kind of divine wrath. Another good one to remember is to be careful of sending the son of the woman you want to marry against her will on a heroic labor. Overall, just like any classical myth, the overriding lesson is always "behave yourself."

That's a lot of work to go through just to take a shower in the morning. Heaven knows I love Classical Mythology, but sometimes I want to just start my day with a conventional shower that doesn't inspire me to think so much.

What about you? Do these many-serpent-headed showers move you in any particular direction? Would you take a shower with a Gorgon?