Mark it 140

A number of retail brands, regardless of their product category, use history, tradition and heritage as marketing tools to enhance their brand’s equity. If your product has been around for at least over two decades in the dog-eat-dog world of retail, chances are your product has found its niche in the marketplace, and that you’ve utilized innovation in design and function in order to respond to the changes in taste and preference of the buying public over the years. If 50 or a hundred years are downright impressive, what do we call a company like Kohler that is now celebrating its 140th year of manufacturing and marketing bathroom and kitchen fixtures?

Founded by an Austrian immigrant who settled in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Kohler is a rarity as it remains privately owned despite its stature as a true global brand in its category. In fact, over the decades (25 years in the Philippines), while it has encouraged artistry and found a way to incorporate this in its revolutionary designs, it has also diversified to golf courses, hotels and residences. The brand proves that it is a true modern-day supporter of the sport and fostering its international impact. But of course, its bloodline is the bathroom fixtures: shower heads, baths, sinks and faucets that fuse heritage, design and innovation on a constantly evolving basis.

While gratefully and respectfully looking to the past, Kohler makes full use of technology advances in making its products function and respond in ways we sometimes don’t even foresee, and then wonder, “Yes, am so glad they thought of that and it makes my trip to the bathroom that much more enjoyable.” And let’s face it, whether at home or when out of the house, a significant and essential portion of our time is spent in the confines of a bathroom — our veritable sanctuary.

One new innovative product is the Moxie, a shower head plus wireless speaker that delivers up to seven hours of music, news and more by pairing it with your Bluetooth device. This gives “singing in the shower, while you lather” a whole new dimension.

The Strayt Decorative faucets are a sight to behold, epitomizing architectural modernity, as they synthesize 21st-century minimalism with a nod to Art Deco and established artistic movements of the past. And the one I marveled at was the Numi Plus toilet, which comes with a touchscreen remote control device — bidet functionality, heated seat and vents to heat the feet, built-in speakers, motion-activated toilet lid and seat, ambient light built into the toilet (perfect for late at night when you’re stumbling into your bathroom), and an emergency flush. In my mind, I joked that all we now need are nose plugs, and we can just spend hours in the bathroom... Never leave!

Along with its 140-year provenance comes public trust and confidence, things Kohler enjoys as it is found in the best of residences, and in establishments that are staking its claim to be the premier of its class, such as Solaire, the ultimate in our country when it comes to gaming resort/hotels. Well, 140 and counting is a great way to prove your worth!

From Scandinavia to Frisco

Two of the novels today come from Scandinavian authors: one is a compelling historical fiction piece from Swede Karen Engelmann, and the other from noted Norwegian crime fiction writer, Jo Nesbo. The third novel is Michael Chabon’s latest, set in today’s Bay Area.

The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann (available at National Book Store) Courtly intrigues, scheming royalty, and Sweden’s fortunes intertwined with that of France in the late 18th century, make for the backdrop of this historical novel that’s well researched and provides drama and entertainment. Engelmann’s novel is a vicarious and lush romp into Sweden’s past, with vivid characters, both regal and shady. One passage I particularly liked revolved around a woman’s use of as simple an instrument as a fan for seduction, mastery over men, and domination. Our main protagonist is Emil, who works in the harbor as a customs officer. Access to ships and the captains manning these ships means being able to smuggle goods and people in and out of Sweden, as well as being privy to information from neighboring countries that the official Swedish broadsheets may be suppressing in order to maintain order. A tempestuous period of Sweden’s history gets a novel it richly deserves.

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon (available at Fully Booked) While a new Chabon novel is always something to anticipate, one does have to be wary about his subject matter. While his impeccable writing (the turn of phrase and very stylized manner of expressing himself) is always on display, there are times that he sets his sights on subjects that may not be to everyone’s taste. With Telegraph Avenue, Chabon’s main characters are business partners in an Oakland vinyl record store, Brokeland Records. There’s Archy, an African-American; and there’s Nat, who’s Jewish. Their wives also run a business, a midwife baby delivery service. Story revolves around what happens when, two blocks down, Gibson Goode, ex-NFL quarterback and fifth richest black man in America, plans to open his Dogpile mega-store; and when a difficult delivery means legal repercussions for their wives’ business. A treatise on the new America, and how individuals cope with the changes. About family, paternity, business ethics, and how it all impacts on individual lives and choices.

Phantom by Jo Nesbo (available at National Book Store) Even as Steig Larsson and his posthumously released Dragon Tattoo trilogy were making literary waves globally, those in the know were aware that crime fiction novelists from Scandinavia, such as Jo Nesbo, had been churning out great stories one after the other for years now. Phantom is his latest, and it brings dysfunctional police detective Harry Hole back from Hong Kong to Oslo, as his son is accused of a murder that both Harry and mother, Rakel, can’t believe the boy could have committed. Mixed up in drugs, the syndicate, local politics, a new street drug phenom called “violin,” and a slippery mastermind known only as Dubai a.k.a. the Phantom — this novel is as textured as one can get with crime novels. It is fast on the action, while still providing great character study and working as a police procedural. And of course, at the center of all this is Harry Hole, a gruff, modern noir-ish creation that recalls the genuine tough guy kind of detective that Humphrey Bogart would have portrayed on screen.