fixtures

A specially-designed connector that holds together furniture and can be 3D printed at home.

HVAC. The mere mention of that word makes me shudder. We have three - count them! - THREE heating and cooling systems in our house. Talk about crazytown; it's HVAC madness over here. There is one unit for the bedrooms, one unit for the living space, and one unit for the family room (as I mentioned I think it was converted from a garage by the first owners). We've had our share of fun times with these units... like the time when the air conditioner broke in the dead of Summer while I was six months pregnant. Or the time when the heater broke the night we brought our newborn daughter home from the hospital. Ah, the memories. Well, another thing about the HVAC system that I'd like to erase from my memory are the hideous floor grilles throughout the house.

I headed to Berlin last week to attend the launch of the Axor Starck Organic bathroom collection, which is a collaboration between design genius Philippe Starck and the German company Hansgrohe's luxury brand, Axor. The collection combines a sleek, organic faucet form with a revolutionary way of saving water.