“For years, I have struggled to find original, well-priced, bathroom vanities for my clients: our mission is to promote bathroom furniture that promotes a cleaner environment, comes in a wide range of colors, and comes in sizes that can readily fit into existing bathrooms.”

Chinatown. Designed by Luce Price. Manufactured by Waterfall.

The words of Lucy Price, interior designer and founder of Waterfall Bathroom Furniture, are music to the ears of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners across this continent and others, since they address a common impediment to the mutual (and often mutually exclusive) aims of cost-efficient and aesthetically alluring bath design-the customized vanity. And everyone knows a vanity must be customized to be worth its salt, right? Not if Price has anything to say about it.

Price-of the famed hoteliers of Quebec’s award winning Auberge Saint-Antoine-brings her worldliness to bear on her design aesthetic as well as her philosophy of sustainability. She was born in Canada, raised in Africa, and educated in the U.S. and Europe, and this exposure to a variety of cultures has made her mindful of regional variations in lifestyle and aesthetic. She says her vision is informed by “passion for travel, contemporary art, unexpected pairings, and a concern for the planet’s natural resources.” One can sense these influences in the Chinatown vanity: available in 12 colors and two widths (40″ and 53 1/8″), the piece is adaptable to varied schemes and bathroom dimensions. It’s a compact design-the sharp lines and right angles give it an unassuming and self-possessed aura, while its fine details (matching pulls, feet, and faucet in polished chrome) are suggestive of a certain mystery, much as in the Chinese chests the piece is based on. Made of formaldehyde-free MDF (with optional quartz top from Caesar Stone-the first quartz surface company awarded the ISO 14001 Environmental Standard) and finished with low V.O.C. paints, the piece goes partways, at least, to achieving Price’s goals of featuring cleanly-produced and sustainable products-though it’s an ongoing struggle. Future innovations may include using MDF fabricated of rice straw, which would mean that it’s not only formaldehyde-free but also made of recycled material.

Waterfall’s versatile, stylish, eco-wise designs are a great example of how to stop ruining the world without sacrificing the desire to fill our interior environments with beautiful objects.