Hope springs: a faucet and a cure

“Talo” inspiration collage courtesy of Brizo

In mid July, I was one of almost 100 design bloggers who traveled from across the country to see how Brizo products are made. We toured the Delta Faucet plant in Jacksonville, Tennessee, and saw first hand the care and quality control that backs every product that leaves their factory. Brizo is the luxury division of this American company, a leader in faucet innovation since 1954.

photo courtesy Brizo

The generous folks at Brizo coordinated this all-expense paid trip and invited their former New York Fashion Week design bloggers (nicknamed the Blogger19) to attend. I was a member of their most recent Blogger19 group last February (see post here). During our NY based focus groups, we were introduced to the concepts behind the designs of Brizo products. For this special reunion event, we were again introduced to new product offerings (which I will share later) but we were also there for a very important project ...

“Design and Decorate with Brizo” a blogger and patient activity

photo courtesy Brizo

Our trip started in Memphis, with a visit to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the world’s premier pediatric cancer research center, founded by internationally known entertainer Danny Thomas back in 1962. Why did a faucet company take a bunch of design bloggers to visit a children’s hospital? Brizo has been a proud sponsor of St. Jude since 2010, and they wanted to share with us why St. Jude is so special. We spent the day touring the St. Jude campus, and what we left with was a feeling of hope and optimism. This is a very special place that allows children being treated for pediatric cancer (and their families) to dream of a healthy future.

Brizo Marketing Director Brian Nobbe welcomes us to St. Jude.

photo courtesy Brizo

A family shares the story of the care they received while at St. Jude.

photo courtesy Brizo

Artwork throughout St. Jude is optimistic, showing children in all

stages of treatment enjoying every day life and just being a kid.

Bikes lined up under the shade for patients to take a spin on good days.

A universally designed play structure with tented protection from the sun.

A bright and cheerful apartment in Target House where families stay for free

while undergoing long-term treatments at St. Jude Research Hospital.

Also at Target House, a great room where families and patients can unwind.

The Odin by Brizo

Brizo was the first National sponsor of the “St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway” program which raises funds for research and treatments at St. Jude. Brizo provides fixtures and furnishings for these newly built homes, homes built with donated materials and labor, which are later raffled off – at $100 per ticket – to one lucky winner. Programs like the Dream Home Giveaway and donations averaging just $30 per person, help keep the doors of St. Jude open for children who require critical cancer treatment. Treatment that they receive for FREE for as long as they need it.

The mission of founder Danny Thomas was that “no child should die in the dawn of their life.” Since St. Jude first started to conduct pediatric cancer research, U.S. childhood cancer survival rates have gone from 20% to 80%, with some forms of cancer reaching a 94% survival rate. Research developments uncovered by the joint efforts of their team of research scientists and medical staff are shared freely around the globe.

Target House is furnished by the generous donations of individuals, companies,

and even celebrities like Brad Paisley, Amy Grant, and Shaun White.

photo courtesy Brizo

It may have taken a faucet company to get us there, but after touring the hospital and patient/family living centers on the St. Jude campus, it was clear to all of us design bloggers that the success of this research community is based on the dedication of each and every person on staff, from the administration to food service to nurses to doctors and so many others. The entire St. Jude team is fully committed to creating a hopeful experience for the children and families that they treat there. Equal credit goes to the numerous donors who support the work of this positive healing environment. It costs around $1.8 million a day to run St. Jude. Public donations cover 75% of these operating expenses.  

To learn more about the partnership between Brizo and St. Jude, watch this video. To discover ways to help, click here.

Getting Glamorous with Jason Wu

Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue, looks on (front row, black shades)

as the Jason Wu Fall 2013 Ready-to-Wear Collection walks a Park Avenue runway

during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York on February 8, 2013.

Brizo fixtures on display in the Designer Bath showroom include a

collection dressed in a matte black finish designed by Jason Wu.

Premium faucet brand Brizo has been the official fashion week sponsor of designer Jason Wu since 2006. Their partnership extends to a bath collection that Wu designed for Brizo in his favored matte black finish. What brought a young faucet company (owned by the Delta label) and a now famous dress designer (Wu has designed the last two inaugural gowns for First Lady Michelle Obama) together? Recently I had the opportunity to find out.

Design bloggers on the runway of the Jason Wu fashion show, February 2013

I was invited along with a select group of design bloggers from across the country (a couple of which traveled from as far as Dubai) as the guest of Brizo to learn more about the inspiration behind their brand AND to attend the Jason Wu Fall 2013 fashion show in New York. We even got the chance to meet Wu at an after-party celebrating the launch of his latest Ready-to-Wear collection. It was quite the fairytale experience!

Besides all the sparkle, glitz and glam of the NY fashion scene, what I came away with from our time spent with the Brizo team is how much they love what they do. They truly are passionate about providing innovative products that offer high performance while functioning as works of art for the home. 

First, a little bit about the brand ...

The Brizo brand was introduced in 2004 on the pages of the September issue of Vogue magazine. From the very start, the goal was to present a line of faucets with a true sense of style that appealed to both interior designers and homeowners.

– photo courtesy of Brizo –

A year later, up and coming fashion designer Jason Wu was introduced to Brizo to create a number of dresses for a series of ad campaigns, and in 2006 Brizo sponsored Wu’s first fashion show at Bryant Park. A collaborative relationship was born. 

2007 print campaign by ad agency Young & Laramore featuring ballerinas

photographed underwater wearing Jason Wu designed gowns.

photo credit: Howard Schatz

Sketch of faucet designed by Judd Lord, Director of Industrial Design at Brizo

End result: the Belo faucet by Brizo with available deck-mount bud vase

– photo courtesy of Brizo –

It wasn’t long before Wu was asked to design a collection exclusively for Brizo. After seeing a prototype for a new faucet, Wu came up with the concept of a matte black finish applied to a sleek, minimalist design that was in keeping with his finely tailored fashions. Next, Jason showed the Brizo team images of interiors that he found inspiring and relevant to his design aesthetic. From those photos, baroque flowers were pulled out as a design element for the collection, featured as back plates and even defining the shape of the waste basket. Smoky glass shelves, like the ones in Wu’s fashion studio, were also incorporated into the Brizo collection. His signature owl emblem is even stamped on the top of the lav faucet handle (come see it up close and in person at our showroom!) Of course, he was also on the production set once again with a model being photographed wearing a dress of his making, this time for the 2012 ad campaign introducing Jason Wu for Brizo. 

– photo courtesy of Brizo –

– photo courtesy of Brizo –

Brizo has a wide variety of fashion-forward models to choose from, each with an equally compelling story and distinct design point of view. For example, the Venuto below, designed by Judd Lord, was inspired by Japanese hair ornaments seen on a visit to a Sake bar while on a trip to Milan. Note the fine detail of the slanted tip on the simple and elegant faucet lever.   

Venuto kitchen faucet and inspiration board by Brizo

A working Brizo Solna model, designed by Seth Fritz,
is on display at the Designer Bath showroom.

Besides looking good, Brizo faucets are water-sense certified and also sport SmartTouch and SmartTouch Plus Technology. With hands-free, touch sensitive, and proximity sensing abilities, Brizo faucets offer a level of convenience and control that improve human-to-fixture interactions on a daily basis. Temperature control technology is also embedded in these models, further providing an efficient end-user experience.

In everyday terms, using faucets that magically turn on and off with a slight tap anywhere on the faucet or with a wave of the hand is sheer genius and super fun!

To learn more about these advanced technologies, click here.

Snapshots from my Brizo sponsored trip to New York ...

Bloggers meet and greet at the Eventi hotel: Todd Venditouli, Adele Young,

Judd Lord of Brizo, Marilyn Russell, Barbara Elza Hirsch and myself.

Product Marketing Director Kristen Baum discussing the

Brizo brand with our group of design bloggers.

photo credit: Jayme Thornton

Touring the LEED certified Hearst Towers and Elle Decor Magazine:

myself, Katrina Stumbo, Nick Prihoda of Young & Laramore, Ellen Cheever

Making our dinner at Sur La Table. My team included Senior Brand Manager
for Brizo Laura Brooks, Cristi Holcombe, Donna Hall and Laura Bielecki

A favorite look of mine from the Jason Wu Fall 2013 Collection

Posing with a line up of Jason Wu designs at the after party.

Jason Wu for Brizo spotted in the powder room.

Jason Wu being interviewed by stylist-extraordinaire and good friend “Cannon”
(Cannon first introduced Jason to Brizo) during the runway show after-party.

Some of the fabulous team responsible for organizing our whirlwind NY trip: 

Laura Brooks, Katie Feltz, Paula Warner, and Sarah Sinetean

To see more photos from the Jason Wu fashion show and the blogger events that I attended courtesy of Brizo, watch for related posts on Design Vignettes.

And please consider yourself invited to stop by our Beverly showroom at anytime to check out the line-up of Brizo fashions that you can take home for yourself!