It’s been about a year since we’ve heard from the Freeport, NY firm of Hastings Tile and Bath. But it was certainly worth the wait. Their last offering was profiled by Alicita Rodriguez at NeoCon09: the aptly-named Croco Series, a menage of porcelain tile that is an uncanny facsimile of the inimitable reptile, is “a real tribute to the aquatic reptiles of the Crocodilia Order, since the 24” x 24” tiles resemble their signature hide—organic squares with rounded edges… they also make the Cuir (skin), Peau (Ostrich), and Eleph Series.”

This year, Hastings departs from the rough and tumble tactility of the Croco Series for more rarefied imaginings. the Muse Collection of Ceramic Wall Hung Basins is indeed inspired to poetic heights. Combining a contemporary sink with a pair of sexily sculpted legs, Muse is decidedly feminine and impressively versatile.

Muse 80. Designed by Matteo Thun for Hastings Tile & Bath.

Muse 80. Designed by Matteo Thun for Hastings Tile & Bath.

Muse 100. Designed by Matteo Thun for Hastings Tile & Bath.

Muse 100. Designed by Matteo Thun for Hastings Tile & Bath.

Designer Matteo Thun is much in tune with this synthesis of present and past. He describes Muse as “a collection with soft lines brimming with history, which console the body (and spirit) by drawing on a form of classicism in tune with the present. Rome’s fountains provide the initial input for a new concept of larger and deeper washbasins.” If you’ve ever scanned Thun’s portfolio (and if you haven’t, you certainly should), you already know that he’s all about a millennial modernism. Whether the project in question is the Vigilius mountain resort in Italy or a Bio Power Station in Germany, Thun excels at crafting elegant forms from a rigid geometry in a materials palette favoring glass and wood. For Muse, he has swapped out the latter for ceramic finished in a high gloss or chromed aluminum, but the spirit is much the same.

Available in wall-hung or free-standing incarnations, Muse’s shallow depth and longitudinal orientation give the basin a distinctive stylistic vibe, situating it at many points along a fashionable continuum between Kathleen Hepburn and Lady Gaga. Another way of saying this is that Muse has a 1920s flair yet aims for a roster of devotees that won’t come of age until, perhaps, 2020. If that’s not aesthetic versatility, I don’t know what is.

Via ContractDesign.