I’m thrilled to share with you that New York City based interior designer, Robin Baron, is the first interior designer who has specified my AILA sink for Thompson [ the world’s first sink designed by AI ] for one of her clients.

It will be installed in a powder bathroom on the Upper East Side of Manhattan this January.

Robin, well known for her licensed lighting collection for Minka Lighting, as well as her licensed furniture and occasional collection for Howard Elliott, has many, many accolades to her name, including being a brand ambassador for NY NOW as well as a Past President of the New York Metro chapter of ASID.

She is a sought after speaker, industry spokesperson and her award winning Thursday evening IG show, Robin Baron Live, draws an audience of hundreds who tune in to hear Robin’s interviews with industry thought leaders and design personalities.

Robin’s work has been widely lauded, an example of which is below - designed for the CEO of a major US telecommunications company in NYC and his family.

I was so excited when Alejandra Thompson de Jordan, Vice President of Marketing for her family’s business, Thompson [ known online as @thompsontraders ], shared some pictures of Robin’s client’s sink, which arrived at the Thompson warehouse. [ Note: I have permission from Robin to share these with you here ].

If you’ve seen the original sink, you’ll notice that Robin made an adjustment to the edge of the AILA sink, as her client required an undermount.

Robin and I both think it came out so beautifully, what do you think?

If you’ve followed the story of my AILA sink for Thompson, the world’s first kitchen and bath product to be manufactured from an AI generated image, you’ll know just how exciting it is to me and to the Thompson family to see Robin’s custom order come in.

But, if you’re just now finding out about the AILA sink, I invite you to read this blog post I wrote about the backstory of my collaboration with the Thompson family on AILA and this blog post about its debut at the National Kitchen and Bath Show this past February.

Here’s Alejandra holding a picture of my AI generated image on top of the real sink as it appeared at the National Kitchen and Bath Show.

It was not an easy process for Thompson’s coppersmithing artisans [ using heirloom tools ] to design and make the drain for the sink, but they did. It’s completely functional and a technological breakthrough.

Thompson’s custom program is phenomenal for designers and not only did Robin use it for this project of hers, but several of my designer friends have used Thompson’s custom capabilities for many of their projects.

Robin: I know you will see this. Thank you so much for specifying the AILA sink for your client, and I hope they will delight in knowing that Ferguson chose it for the ELEVATE section of their prestigious 2024 Trends And Influences Report, as you can see below. Your client can see more about that here, if you’d like to share that with them.

Also in the image below is Kansas City interior designer, Will Brown, who saw AILA for the first time at KBIS, and how AILA appeared in the Thompson’s exhibitor space at the recent Fall 2024 High Point Market, as shared by a designer I don’t know who saw it there at 313 Spaces.

For those of you who want to read even more about Robin and all of her accomplishments, I invite you to read her ABOUT section here and to read this blog post I wrote where I interviewed for her top tips on product licensing - a post all of you will enjoy.

Robin and I have known each other now for about 18 years or so, and it’s such a genuine joy for me for such a good friend of mine to be the first one in the world to be installing AILA for a client.

Stay tuned for Part 2 when we show AILA installed in Robin’s client’s home in January of 2025.

Thank you again, Robin, and thank you, Thompson, for asking me to collaborate with you on this exciting project.

PS: Robin’s IG Live show is every Thursday at 7 pm ET. Make sure to tune in here….and if you’re attending January Lightovation at Dallas Market Center from Jan. -11 , make sure to stop in to Minka Lighting to see Robin’s gorgeous lighting collection for them, which I wrote about here.

In Appreciation ~

Leslie