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OK . . . that was fun, my last post – in New York City with Brizo – and don’t mind the all-expense paid trip, the cocktail parties, the limo rides, the new concepts, the fancy clothes, the beautiful women and the earthworms …. Instead, let’s talk faucets. Brizo faucets for that matter.

Sure we were sequestered in a room for a portion of day talking Brizo brand philosophy.  We bore witness to some purely scrumptious, although still top secret, designs.  Brizo’s Director of Industrial Design, Judd Lord, along with Senior Product Manager, Brian Jones walked us through the birth of a faucet . . . from conception to production.

Those Fashionable Faucets …

Mesmerizing stuff really, and while I am tempted to try to hack it out – friend Michelle Carangi @HolleyandGill did a great job, already, of capturing the deets.

They work within an industry which on the outside might seem dull or limiting, but this team has taken every spare inch of creativity to produce the most interesting and innovative products for your kitchen and bath out there. And no, I’m not just saying this because Brizo brought me to New York to spend time with them and help them with their product research. I was among 19 other bloggers/designers and throughout every conversation afterwards, this opinion was unanimous.

They live design, they implement it on a daily basis and fear no boundaries in it either. For me, a company that allows their designers to use travel as a form of inspiration can do nothing but succeed and excel in their respective games. Brizo opens all avenues for creativity to flow and seeing what they’ve produced for their upcoming 2011-2012 lines, it’s certainly making the magic happen for them.

. . . between daydreams and fits of envy, we received a pretty decent snapshot of Brizo’s current offerings.  From the Providence Classic that happens to sit in my powder room to the RSVP, its sleek silhouette conjuring the feminine form.

The Virage – with its distinctive twist — was inspired, as Judd told us, by the wrought iron spirals found throughout Europe (End: Fun Factbit).

Designer Celine Kwok says — they, the faucets, are like “jewelry for the home” (and again with the “fashion”).  But that about sums it up perfectly, with Brizo . . . and I was pretty thoroughly wowed by the styling across all collections.

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… Are also Hi-Tech :: Fashionable Innovations

But . . . Wait! . . . I’m a man’s man (or is that pronounced “nerd”?), and either way — enough with this talk of fashiony-things.  I. just. gotta. talk . . . (*monster truck voice*) . . . raw practicality . . . now.

Some very exciting innovations coming from Brizo (part of the Delta family), and how could you (general) not be impressed by the Talo and Venuto, equipped with SmartTouch® Technology? . . . That’s right >> SmartTouch® Technology!

I mean — if you think about it; it’s pretty space-aged stuff.

SmartTouch® – when I asked, was equated to the movie, the Matrix — where it, the faucet, channels the energy from “the grid” (No!  Come on!).  The SmartTouch®-equipped faucet senses the electrical energy we produce.  It is a software application, that simple; the same employed in any hands-free faucet set-up.  Here, however, the faucet’s sensitivity has been “dialed down” a little.

This technology is “smart” though (hence the name . . . maybe? Ahhhh . . . Hmmmm).  Smart enough to discern the intentional swing of a fixture’s spout (where water is not released) from a touch, which is or was intended to produce a stream of water.

When listening to the Brizo team, as they frame it — they seem to feel that these and similar technologies will become the gold standard, a staple as designs move forward.  I mean —  the future of faucets may not have handles.  The Future, Man, and Wow!  A bold statement, and think, no handles would probably be quite liberating for a faucet designer.

“Water . . . On.  92.”  OK, OK . . .

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Brizo SmartTouch

We received a free faucet and I am very interested to find out how exactly it installs and how it functions. (Note: This faucet was ultimately installed during a remodel of my mom’s kitchen. To see SmartTouch in action, see the article – Finished with a Faucet.)

(But what to do?  I have made all the faucet purchases for my house, “the farm”.  What then, to do with it?  Mom’s remodeling, Dad’s shopping kitchen faucets . . . hmmm, a Give Away?!  Ha!  And what could I have people do to win such a sweet faucet?  Faucet repair stories, silly human tricks . . . and might you leave a comment below if you have an idea?.)

Another cool little thing Brizo has going is MagneLock®.  This advancement allows pull-down kitchen faucet heads to return snugly to their place.  This feature has evolved quickly, and similar thinking has made its way into bathroom lines.

The biggest benefit I see here (and I hope I am not leaking this) — magnetized parts allow for the elimination of set screws in installations.  Installers of these lines can now simply “snap on” faucet handles and/or escutcheon plates . . . saving time, and in some cases . . . headaches.

This feature makes its appearance in the 2011 offerings for the Siderna Collection.  Note the glass accents . . . pictured at right.

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Biomimicry :: Taking Design Cues from Nature

OK, I know I have given you a lot of links to click up there, so I won’t burden you further with my thoughts on say Brizo’s Sensori® Shower Systems (though they are allllll good).  Maybe next time, when I write on Biomimicry.  I did cover a lot here . . .

Didn’t get to the fun little bud vases or the dish clothe butlers.  Nor did I cover some of the new mini-widespreads, such as those in the Baliza Collection.  (These are invaluable, of course, as options when replacing faucets but not sinks.)  Rats!  I didn’t get to the bit about “how collections, and faucets, get their names . . . .”  (Did you know that many start out simply as pet names given by their designers?)

I did get to “Dream with a Twist” — the Virage.  And SmartTouch® and MagneLock®.  And I see now how faucets and fashion tie closely together.  As the fashion designers at Fashion Week push the boundaries of style — so toodo the designers at Brizo.

And . . . if I learned one thing from my all-expense paid trip to New York (courtesy of Brizo), there is certainly no way that I can, or will, look at faucets the same way . . . ever again.

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For more on the Delta, Brizo and faucets in general please, still around and click. For Brizo‘s shop on Amazon, here.

Thanks for reading . . . more hopefully soon. jb

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