If Harleysville, Pennsylvania seems an unlikely nexus for one of the new world’s most diverse collections of luxury European faucets, sinks, and vanities, than you’re clearly unacquainted with the sonorously-named Namik Shuhaibar, President of Nameek’s—”a leading importer and distributor of high-quality bathroom products.”

Tsunami 70 Washbasin. Designed by Giovanni Calisti and Massimiliano Braconi for Scarabeo Ceramica.

Armed with the contention that “the bath is the defining room of a household,” Shuhaibar has forged alliances with the top European manufacturers, including the enigmatically-monikered Scarabeo of Italy, whose Tsunami 70 Washbasin has set the standard for minimalist elegance. Though this particular piece is available in a variety of finishes (including platinum, a rusty matte, and a trio of sprighty print patterns that Nameek’s calls “floral”), the version in stark ivory seems most apropos.

Scarabeo says that designers Giovanni Calisti and Massimiliano Braconi were inspired by the onomatopoeic qualities of the word—”Tsunami, the only Japanese word that has been introduced and is utilized in all the world’s languages”—to conceive of the sober yet timeless design, whose shape does, in fact, resemble the early rumblings of an ocean wave. But—much as in other 3rings bathroom favorites like Iosa Ghini’s Stone Tub and Michael Schmidt’s Scoop — I see other epochal patterns of nature: the wind-kissed undulations of sand dunes, the alabaster depositions of snow on hilly plains, the pearly accretions of an oyster shell.

Tsunami 70 Washbasin. Designed by Giovanni Calisti and Massimiliano Braconi for Scarabeo Ceramica.

Tsunami 70 R Washbasin. Designed by Giovanni Calisti and Massimiliano Braconi for Scarabeo Ceramica.

Clearly, Calisti and Braconi were after an organic aesthetic, and Tsunami does not disappoint. And like most things made by Mother Nature, the Tsunami is eminently functional. The gentle curve of the basin is an elegant repository for the stuff of morning ablutions: its horizontal-orientation keeps water at just the right depth, minimizing splash-back while providing a wider expanse for face-washing and shaving. Nameek’s offers both the streamlined Tsunami 70 and its companion model the Tsunami 70 R (featuring a recessed basin and attached faucet). So whether you’re in the vicinity of Rome or just humble Harleysville, you’ll have the finest fixtures at your fingertips.