ALL THAT GLITTERS IS CHROME AT IDS11

 





Now that I'm back and basking in the sun once again, I'm busy creating a whole new Flickr site with all those photos I took to share with you.  Here are just a few to get you warmed up.



Look for the link right here at Kitchens for Living where you can view all the photos and commentary.  As soon as I post you'll be the first to know.   Just to get us started I thought I'd show you some of the faucet fashion at IDS11.   Incidentally this is the 13th IDS show and it's Canada's largest contemporary design show.  This year's event featured 300 exhibitors.  As an American designer, it was interesting to see the differences not only in taste but in product offerings just over the border.  Products and styling appear more progressive.  When I question why so many of these products are not available to us here in the USA I am told that it is not our market.  I hope they are wrong.  If we can't get it we can't buy it.  Right?

 



Plumbing faucet manufacturers from Moen to Riobel to Brizo showed a dazzling array of faucets of all types with one thing in common, a polished chrome finish. Fellow bloggers who had the opportunity to visit Cologne, Germany last week for the "Living Kitchen" event tell me that polished chrome is the choice in Europe as well.

 




Next post: The Sink of the future is here today!

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DESIGN STAR'S ON TO SOMETHING

Emily Henderson Design Star 2010
An apartment that looks like Tom for the win!

I don't know about you but I LOVE my HGTV.  One of my favorite treats is the show Design Star, quickly followed by The Antonio Treatment, House Hunters International and sometimes Divine Design.  I digress.  The winning designer of Design Star gets their own HGTV show based on their unique concept.  This season's recently crowned winner was Emily Henderson.  Her concept is Style to Lifestyle, meaning she takes your own personal fashion statement and turns it into a lifestyle design statement.  For the win she interpreted Tom's look into an apartment decor.  

Tom's Look

It's all about the connection between fashion and interior design.  Yes, it's all connected.  One informs the other.  Another great example of that is the stylish plumbing fixture manufacturer Brizo.  

Brizo's signature kitchen faucet (posing as a flirty little dress?)
Jason Wu's flirty little dress! 
Get it?

They are all about style and what better way to emphasize that than by connecting with the world of fashion design, which is just what they've done.  Since 2006, Brizo has partnered with fashion designer Jason Wu, a finalist in the CFDA/Vogue fashion fund and the designer of Michelle Obama's Inauguration Ball gown. As part of this unique collaboration, Brizo sponsors Jason's shows at New York Fashion Week, and Jason has designed dresses used in Brizo advertising.  Check it out at  www.brizo.com There's no reason not to add a little fashion to your kitchen.