congratulations Jason Wu, Brizo company, and a group of enthusiastic and talented interior design bloggers


before we start let's just take in the beauty of Jason's show and relish in the moment...

Jason Wu Fashion Show NYC February 2011

 Let me begin with saying that I would wear each and every one of these garments above.  In addition to being obviously well made, the clean lines and body shaping silhouettes are flattering and all designed for a "Lady" -- A stylish, cutting edge Lady mind you, but a Lady nevertheless.  Jason's designs are "thinking outside the box" in many ways.  Unlike many young designers he understands that classic and beauty are fresh and modern. When he was asked by our group whom he'd most like to dress in history he answered "Jacqueline Onassis"  That's all I need to know.  Jackie O is modern and her classic style sensibilities are fresh even today.  At a young 27, Jason obviously has a long prosperous career ahead! He gets women and what we need and his designs are impeccable.

Jason Wu
Since designing the First Lady's dress for the Inaugural Ball, Jason's career has been swinging upward


What was I doing at Jason Wu's show during Fashion Week with these folks and what does this have to do with interior design? 
Read below to find out all the details



above photo -- enjoying the Jason Wu runway show

in the background Leslie Fine, Raina Cox, Jennifer Rector, Arne Salvesen and me

Patricia David Brown, Me, Arne Salvasen, Richard Herb and Nick Lovelady

 

Me with Leslie Fine and Lori Gilder - two fabulous ladies!

meet and greet
JB Bartkowiak, Eric Miller, Carmen Christensen, Me, Michelle Wiebe, Patricia Davis Brown, Jonathan Legate

It is quite obvious that Jason Wu "thinks outside of the box" but let me tell you how award winning faucet company Brizo is cutting edge in their approach to design.  A few weeks ago I was invited along with 18 other interior design bloggers for an all expense paid three days in NYC to collaborate with Brizo during Fashion Week.  Brizo brought us to New York and created a special environment for us to interact with them on their new products while educating us on their fashion forward style of design.  Since that time, many of us have been writing posts about our experiences, posting photographs to Facebook and Tweeting up a storm.  Why do you ask?  Did Brizo take us to New York and brainwash us?  No, yet we were swept up in the graciousness and forward thinking of a company that values its design community -- they treated us like royalty all while teaching us about what inspires them as they lay down the ground work of making faucets.  They brought their executives and design team to NYC to meet us for an intensive collaborative product development experience.  Brizo executives explained their design philosophy and how they form their products, and showed us prototypes not yet announced to the public.  We were sworn to secrecy (I could tell you but than I'd have to kill you) about some cutting edge designs that are soon to be released.  I especially appreciated how they solicited our advice on what we liked and disliked and seemed to genuinely take it to heart.  I enjoyed learning about the Smart Touch faucets and how those products are taking shape.  I was also very impressed with the fashion influences they draw from, as well as how much energy they put into the design inspirations when creating these products. 

Many corporations are stuck in the grind of getting product out and spending tons of money on large ad campaigns, but there is often a disconnect with their audience.  Brizo has thought long and hard about their audience and since they market directly to interior designers it's a perfect marriage to bring a small group of designers and bloggers into the fold for a "think tank"  to not only teach about their products but to extract our opinions on the designs as well.  They do this during Fashion Week since they have been a committed sponsor of Jason Wu since 2006.  Kudos to Brizo! They saw Jason's talent long before Michelle Obama chose his dress -- they were spot on about his talent weren't they?



Jason Wu and our host Jai Massela



part of the Brizo team that gave us a warm welcome



 Judd Lord is Brizo's Director of Industrial Design -- he impressed us with his enthusiasm and passion for his work.  Judd walked us through many of his team's inspirations, the trends that influence their work and the many considerations from architecture, fashion and design that inspire their product development  

Let's talk faucets...
at the end of our experience Brizo generously gifted us with one of their Smart Touch faucets. 
I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail!
From contemporary to traditional aesthetics, Brizo has a wide range of products and in four finishes to choose from -- take a look at a small sample:



Virage is their number one selling faucet -- the turned handles make it timeless and fits in with many design styles

Loki is like eye candy -- jewelry for a sink

Talo is the faucet I chose - hands free SMART TOUCH technology with a pull down sprayer



During our time with Brizo we also learned of a unique ideology becoming popular called Biomimicry. Brizo brought in renowned architect from San Francisco Sean Cullen who gave us a thorough slide show and symposium about this "green" philosophy.  After dinners, fashion shows, product development and a biomimicry seminar we were broken into five groups and given a
design challenge. 

We only had a few hours to design a bathroom with a floor plan, elevations and product board using all of these concepts combined and given the open question: 

How does nature bathe? 

All teams worked diligently and we presented our plans at the fashion show after party



our team working hard on our Japanese inspired bathroom



Our team's design up close

 

All five projects displayed at the after party - each one interesting and inspiring



Richard O'Reagan and Jai Massela announcing the winners - a tense and exciting moment!



Our team winning First Place - Jennifer Rector, Richard Herb, me and Roberta Kravette



Team B winning Second Place with a great presentation and plan



Here I am with Jason Wu at the after party

Brizo, Jason Wu, Sean Cullen and my fellow design bloggers all get a mention here for using innovation and forward thinking approaches in design and "thinking outside the box".  It was a fabulous experience -- thank you Brizo and I'm planning a kitchen makeover in my own home as we speak to go with all my new Brizo faucets -- stay tuned!

Stop back next week for more thoughts on those
"Thinking Outside The Box"
in design