I haven’t completed Part 2 of “What I recall of KBIS” but I did want to post something I saw as a result of attending an Apartment Therapy Design Evening tonight, in which Tina Roth Eisenberg was the guest.

Eisenberg is the creator of the swissmiss blog and founder of CreativeMornings, a free monthly breakfast lecture series for creatives, and Tattly, which produces fun, well-designed and funky temporary tattoos. She also co-created TeuxDeux, a to-do app, and runs StudioMates, a collaborative workspace in Brooklyn for designers, bloggers, writers and other creative types. Whew.

The talk was inspiring, revolving around eight principles by which she lives and which she hopes to teach her children. I don’t remember all eight, but here are some I still vaguely recall: 1. Do what you love; 2. When you feel the need to complain, make something; 3. Surround yourself with like-minded people; 4. Follow your intuition; 5. Collaborate with others; 6. Inspire others; 7. If an opportunity scares you, take it…and number 8? For the last principle and more from the night’s discussion, you can visit the Apartment Therapy website, where a video will be posted tomorrow.

Needless to say, when I got home, I decided to go to her blog to read and see a little. That’s when I came across this video, which I highly recommend watching until the end:

Oh, the evening kicked off with a short presentation of Blime, a DIY parametric decorative pendant designed by Alvaro Soto that comes smartly packed in a box smaller than, say, that in which checks are sent (random reference, I know, but I’m looking at one as I write this). The assembly may seem daunting to some, but the pieces are all labeled according to an enclosed diagram. Check out the video on Kickstart.

If you’re wondering why I did not blog about KBIS while in Chicago, it’s because I was sick for much of the show. I did do a day of walking the show floor and fulfilling appointments. I also managed to snap a few shots of UNcontained, but by the second day, I was struggling to get from one booth to the next without disgusting people—and myself—with throaty fits of coughing. Much is a blur, but I recall seeing quite a few noteworthy products during booth visits.

One such product is Moen’s MotionSense kitchen faucet, which comes with two sensors to allow for hands-free operation—a welcome convenience in the kitchen. Moving one’s hand over the Wave Sensor at the top of the faucet or placing an object within sensing range of the Ready Sensor at its base turns it on and off. A side handle provides control of water temperature and flow, as well as manual operation. MotionSense is powered by six standard AA batteries or AC power adapter and is offered on the Arbor pull-down faucet.

Here’s a video on the technology:

I liked the look of TOTO’s Wyeth faucet (below) and thought the Neorest Shower Booth was interesting.

But I guess what made my ears perk up—in addition to the announcement about its alliance with Villeroy & Boch—was its 1G, a gravity-fed 1.0-gpf ultra-high-efficiency toilet that incorporates the company’s Dual Cyclone flushing system as well as a proprietary water-propulsion technology. Yes, Niagara Conservation makes a 0.8-gpf toilet, but I like that the 1G comes with two nozzles—instead of rim holes—and SanaGloss coating to ensure the toilet bowl and rim stay clean and free of residue, stain and limescale buildup, even with the reduced water flow.

You may recall having seen Odin, a bath/powder room collection designed by Jason Wu for Brizo. I loved the finish and the way the handle manipulates, as well as the touch and touch-free functions, but I guess I wasn’t sure how I felt about its proportions. Interestingly, seeing the new additions to the line has made me better appreciate the original. These include a tall single-handle version for vessel sinks (below), three- and four-hole Roman tub faucets, bidet and shower fixtures.

I especially like the widespread model, whose starkly simple handles, along with their very blunt ends, vaguely resemble runes (which, I guess, makes sense), lending the design a primitive, earthy elegance.

In addition to the Fuse kitchen faucet, which has earned quite a bit of ink, Delta also showed Compel, a new bath collection that comprises lav, shower and tub faucets, as well as coordinating accessories and a bidet. The lav faucets are WaterSense-certified. All are inspired Mid-century Modern design, according to Allison McKinney, Delta brand product manager. For me, there’s something vintage aeronautical about the lav faucet (below).

Here’s my shot of the widespread:

And here are images of planes from the 1950s:

Don’t see it? Maybe it’s just me…

I’m still putting together my blog post on KBIS, but I wanted to include some videos of sessions that took place at the Multimedia Lounge.

This first one is of Eric Corey Freed, principal of organicARCHITECT and contributor to this blog, who makes the urgent case for building sustainably and rethinking about how we build. Before you press play, however, you may want to download the visual presentation, which does not appear on screen.

For those interested in learning about all things social media, check out this bloggers panel:

And finally, Judd Lord, director of industrial design for Delta Faucet Co., discusses design process, inspiration and influences in this lively session. Again, the visual component to his talk does not appear, but I’m working on it.

Several other sessions are available for viewing on the KBIS homepage and on our website. Weekend viewing?

Have a great weekend!

I had started writing a post about why I hadn’t blogged about KBIS while in Chicago (had a cold) and was intending to include images of and blurbs about some products I did manage to see at the show, but then these images arrived from Italy to distract me.

You can probably see why. They’re of a collection designed by architect Oriano Favaretto for Mastella Design that I was fortunate enough to see in the flesh at the International Bathroom Exhibition, which is a biennial component of the Salone del Mobile or the Milan Furniture Fair.

This is probably obvious, but the Kalla pedestal sink and Kallaguan freestanding tub take their graceful forms from calla lilies—gorgeous, no?—and are made of Cristalplant. I was going to wait to incorporate the line into an online story about the bath show, but couldn’t. The faucets are Gessi’s Goccia.