Sustainable Solutions (SSi) designs eco-friendly products to conserve water and encourage eco-responsible living. Their Penguin faucet – which bears a distinct resemblance to the body of a penguin – is low flow and dispenses water at a rate of 1.5 GPM (gallons per minute). The
Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iPod touch aren’t exactly devices that lack in the peripheral department, but this is perhaps the biggest and most expensive. On show at CES 2011, the AcuTouch 9500 massage chair from Human Touch works in conjunction with the HT-Connect app to deliver a completely personalized massage via instructions sent over Bluetooth from iOS devices.
While the massage chair comes with its own remote that allows users to select from eight massage programs, downloading the HT-Connect app and using an iOS device extends that number to 16, with more programs to be added in the future. The
You won’t find many flowers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in January, but if you look closely, through winter’s soft filter, you’ll see a muted palette of maroon, deep fuchsia, tawny blond and olive green that is equally moving.
Admission to the garden mecca in Southwest Austin is free during the month of January, and if you go to see flowers, you’ll have to step inside the McDermott Learning Center in the back of the grounds to see “Flowers in Art,” a photography and painting exhibit that features two Austin artists who see nature in very different ways.
Stella Alesi was a painter before she took up photography to help pay the bills, and now she makes hyper-realistic paintings based on her photographs.
Admired in this bedroom in France: an adjustable wall-mounted reading lamp. For a similar look, consider a reissued Lampe Gras from Holly Hunt (see below).
Above: Photo via Marie Claire Maison.
Above: The Lampe Gras No. 214 is available in black or chrome finish online through Holly Hunt for $485.
Lately there has been a flurry of media attention being given to the hub of art and culture that is Brooklyn, New York. From national dailies to independent bloggers, everyone is trying to find out if “Brooklyn” is turning into a brand. With companies such as ABSOLUT Vodka, Starbucks and Ford Motor Company all utilizing Brooklyn in their recent advertising campaigns, one wonders if these large corporations only want their piece of the “Brooklyn Gold Rush.”
Avi Abel is President of Watermark Designs, a Brooklyn-based manufacturer of decorative plumbing fixtures for more than thirty years. A drive