who does it well: Patricia Urquiola

Not only is she one of the lone women in a field dominated by men but her designs are off the hook. Patricia Urquiola is from Spain, lives in Milan and designs for pretty much the coolest furniture companies out there, like Moroso and B&B Italia. But she does way more than furniture, she designed a new line of plumbing fixtures for Axor and she's done hotels and, for even a lucky few, home interiors. Anyway, that's pretty much all I know about her AND that lately if I see something I love, the chances are pretty high that she's designed it. Here are some of my favorites:

Tropicalia for Moroso - a beautifully designed indoor/outdoor seating line that is such a great statement piece.

Tufty-time for B&B Italia

Axor Urquiola line of plumbing fixtures

FLO for Driade bar stool

And Patricia's line for Agape is my personal favorite:

long absence

so yes I have been neglecting my blog lately. not only did I spend last week in NYC, but I'm also in the midst of a massive home renovation which takes up all of my time. And the only things I end up being inspired by are plumbing fixtures, lighting, furniture, you get the idea.

that said, I am going to take a little sojourn into home interiors for a while. Maybe feature several of my favorite designers or inspiration blogs in addition to the plumbing fixtures etc.

to start it off, i have to showcase the one item that i am determined MUST be part of this home: VOLA plumbing fixtures. Designed in the 60s by Arne Jacobsen - the Danish mastermind behind the Egg chair, the Swan chair, the Ant chair and several other one-word items, VOLA has had the same design for 50 years and counting. Talk about timeless.

These are the faucets for the 3 new bathrooms in my house.

And this is the ridiculously beautiful (and ridiculously expensive) tub filler for the master bath.

Check out more here: Vola

totokaelo gets a facelift

The fab Seattle boutique debuted a new website this morning. The site is overall more user-friendly in addition to showing full-length looks. The makeover is a throwback to the days before totokaelo when it was a blog for a store called Impulse that didn't even sell product online and was known mainly for its great styling. The new look seems to combine the best of both worlds - totokaelo's top-notch and unique product assortment with Impulse's style inspiration. Check it out: totokaelo.com