‘Tis the season for gift-giving and with so many new design books on the shelves it could be as easy as popping into your nearest Waterstones, closing your eyes, and randomly picking up one of the countless titles published in time for the holidays. But wouldn’t it be more fun to give something a bit off the cuff? 

Throughout the 1990’s, iconic fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg penned a series of design books: Beds, The Table, and our favorite, The Bath. Published in ‘93, it may be slightly dated but The Bath is no less a tome of inspiration for any design enthusiast. Bursting with 175 gorgeous photographs, it’s also clearly coffee table bound but there is more to this book than just pretty pictures of bathrooms. Von Furstenberg thoughtfully traces the history of the bath through Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and beyond. She delves into the still widely used public bathhouses of Budapest (famous for their medicinal thermal waters) as well as providing recipes for the perfect at-home aromatherapy concoction. It’s a wonderful glimpse into the global rituals and decoration of the bath.

Though the books are out of print, a bit of internet sleuthing promises to yield results. There are still loads of copies being hawked on Amazon, with some sellers hoping to get upwards of £90.00 whilst others are charging less than £1.00 – for now anyway….

Photographs © Stewart O'Shields