My favorite of the group -- natural linen woven into a base of NEON. The neon is subtle but beautiful.

I have never been obsessed with a bath towel before — sure, I've admired a few and I even bought some small Missoni towels for a gift last year — but I was blown away by the quality and colors of Japan's Imabari towels at Habitare.

The Helsinki show was the first push of Imabari outside of Japan — they're testing the international market for their high-end towels. There is a symbiotic relationship between Scandinavian and Japanese designers and consumers — I've traveled to both Finland and Japan this year and it is cool to see how popular Japanese products are in Scandinavia and how popular Scandinavian design is in Japan. I hope that Imabari has success in Finland — I'd love to see these in the US!

While the towels are high-end and quite expensive (the texturally patterned bathmats were €40 in a Helsinki shop) — the quality and colors insure you are getting something really special. Imabari has been making towels for 110 years &mdash the soft (low-iron) water in Imabari is ideal for dyeing and Imabari prides itself on it's colorful towels.

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(Images: Aaron Able)