Ah, spring. Can you smell the fresh cut grass, the gardening, the cherry blossoms? What about the off-shoots from all the spring design shows, particularity fixtures & fittings!

Let me explain, a fixture is a part of your spaces that is fixed in place – like a sink, toilet, lavatory, bidet, etc. But a fitting is a faucet, towel bar, toilet paper holder, robe hook – anything that is fit in place. Now that you know the basics, let’s check out some fancy fixtures & fittings!

Kohler Karbon Bathroom Faucet

Kohler Purist Facuet

Elkay Avado

Nothing’s complete without a failure. This faucet is disgusting. Which geometric shape is it? Who the hell paired it with that very unpractical back-splash? Blech. Elkay needs a new design team.

Toto Giovannoni Washlet

At first impression, this toilet looks like  those little sewing notions that Kim Basinger added to her cat outfit in Batman. The Toto Giovannoni Washlet comes with tech!

“[It] features a self-cleaning washing wand, a heated seat, a deodoriser and remote control, as well as TOTO’s revolutionary rimless toilet design, Tornado Flush and CeFiONtect coating in keeping with the company’s Clean Technology mantra.”

Now, if I could just round up some Brizo…

How envious am I of all the designers on the East Coast who headed out to the Brizo show. Their tweets were endless… and only agrivating because I SO wanted to be there. Other than a bunch of kitchen fittings, I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you that the biggest tease was about Jason Wu’s collaboration with Brizo at New York’s Fashion Week 2010. Could I be any more envious?

Just to translate the magnitude of Brizo for non-design types, it’s like the iPhone… super cool, super slick, and so very chic. But when I say that New York City is a buzz with Brizo, I really mean the world, and when I say the world, I really mean the Milky Way Galaxy. The form of the 2010 faucet collection is, to say the least, very organic, vulva even. I mean, who would have thought that I would look at a faucet (above) and think of curves, sex, sensuality, and nature. A facet, after all, has but a couple of functions like dispensing water and pulling the stop of a sink but you’ll never buy another faucet when you have one that is as an ephemeral experience such as the fixtures being pumped out by Brizo.

What surprised me most about the Brizo collection were the faucets that I was personally attracted to. I’ve always been very classical in design with punches and hits of inspiration, but what I found was that I was drawn to the hyper-modern and the modern designs that were geometric. Now, this may not be a shock to some of you, but I’ve always love organic sculpture and, in fact, I produced bio-morphic sculpture during my degree at the School of Art in Winnipeg.

Overall I am impressed by Brizo. I hope to see much more of it, and I hope to enjoy the lucky client to let’s me specify it.

You’ve heard about have seen the reaction videos on YouTube, but have you thought that designers react to association analysis of predictive consumer trends? I a reaction when I read the press release NKBA Reveals 2010 Kitchen & Bath Design Trends yesterday because I’m not sure if it’s based upon American, North American or trends on the east coast, so I am struggling to find the relevance of some of the trends that my association (which I love dearly and it is very close to my heart) claims.

What I thought would be a good idea is to show the difference that a region, or a select market such as the West Coast, can change the way major associations make predictive trends. Here’s my response list:

Kitchens

1. Eco-chic is the new contemporary

Image courtesy Kohler

2. Low-impact woods emerge

I have noticed in the conversations that I have with people, and the posts in the blogosphere, that economical and sustainable kitchens are absolutely key to moving ahead in this world. Flat panel doors in Bamboo, Kieri board, or reclaimed lumber that are clear coated in a semi-gloss low-VOC finish are what I am seeing more and more of. Ply-woods and particle board frames are moving toward formaldehyde free and even Soy and hemp boards are finding their way onto the marketplace. People are asking for them and the industry is responding.

Image courtesy Kohler

3. Flooring that grounds you

For some of us, flooring is the most difficult choice we will ever make. There has been a waive of hardwood in the past couple years, but this year, 2010, will be the year of dark chocolate PlybooStrand and Durapalm. Other flooring options include polished concrete and wide format recycled tiles.

4. Kitchen-tech faucets

With so much changing in the tech industries, our kitchens have taken on the same depth and *poof* here’s Kohler’s Karbon^TMfaucet. Men be warned, more dish washing is inevitable with this hot faucet.

Image courtesy Kohler

5. EnergyStar is in the spotlight

EnergyStar approved appliances are here to stay and improve. Smaller-sized appliances (24″ width and depth) are huge because they keep you eating your food quickly, thereby keeping is fresh, thereby forcing you to be creative and have fun with all the local produce and foods in the shops.

6. All hail the drawer dishwasher

The NKBA has it right here and the drawer dishwasher is HUGE! EPIC even! The coolest part is that for small spaces, the dishwasher can go under the sink gaining you that ever valuable cabinet storage space.

Bathrooms

1. Your future spa awaits you

Bathrooms are going to be sustainable with low-flow faucets, dual-flush toilets and integrated bathroom tech. Small LCD televisions, vanity spaces that are simple and clean will be built in (Dare I say that the laundry will be under the counter and the typical dryer will disappear? Oh I dare. I dare allot.) Colour pallets will mirror kitchens with white, turquoise and greys being predominantly mixed with bamboo and low-impact woods.

2. Colour on colour

Corian surfaces, coloured fixtures, polished chrome fittings, translucency, and reflection. It has become ever more clear that we expect that our cleanliness is synonymous with shiny white, but it white is less predominant. Blacks and greens are strong contenders in the bathing spaces and they are being married with curves and translucent materials. But grey never seems too far behind, again.

Image courtesy Kohler

glam-Appledom

So what does all this mean? All this white with tone-on-tone, natural products, and pops of colour. Well, it’s all a response to the glam-Appledom of white and silvers, the dialed down spending, instant cash-cab culture, viral marketing, and fashion. Here are a few of my favorites from the Louis Vuitton 2010 fall show.

Vancouver Island (BC) – John Stewart says the future is small and he wants you to live in it. Twelve3 is a Vancouver Island based company specializing in 12³ or 10³ micro homes and are high-tech and affordable. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Not so! It comes complete with a dishwasher, microwave, oven, closet, bathroom and so much day-lighting that this dreary rain won’t be noticed. All this for around $25,000.

“When I started designing the cube,” John told Small House Style “a conscious decision was made to make it comfortable and practical. Somewhere you could be happy to invite friends over to, somewhere you would be proud of. A home, not just shelter.”

“So I started with a blank piece of paper and concentrated on what I liked about a conventional home and tried to eliminate what I didn’t like. It had to be bright and airy, nothing toxic involved in its construction, and built in as environmentally friendly way as possible.”

Read more at Small House Style.