Growing up, I was a big fan of the TV show “The Facts of Life.” There were those rollicking good adventures with Mrs. Garrett and the Eastland girls, who you watched blossom into cool, independent women, and there was the sage theme song: “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have, The Facts of Life, The Facts of Life.” Little did I know that, years on, I’d realize the same maxims hold true for design. Case in point: Fabio Novembre’s Love Series of door hardware for Valli and Valli. In the past, the company has churned out some fine handles and pulls via collaborations with Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Gae Aulenti, Antonio Citterio, Michael Graves, and Andree Putman. But this turn with Novembre: not so great. For his offerings, the Italian designer, who practices a “narcissistic neo-baroque” style (his words), started with a classic cylinder shape, then filed down one end so it terminates in an angled heart. The press release waxes that “[W]hile the heart intends to remind the user of love, its polished surface also serves as a mirror in which one can lovingly gaze upon their [sic] own reflection.” Nice try, but a more apt description would be ’80s kitsch rendered in solid brass with a polished or satin chrome finish. I would respect Novembre more if he had really gone for it and added a rainbow arching off the heart, or maybe a unicorn peeking its head over the handle grip. Perhaps he had wanted to. And maybe next time.