Undesigning the Bath by Leonard Koren
(1996 Stone Bridge Press; Berkeley, Ca.)
This book was a recent gift from a friend who found it in a used bookstore, and said it reminded her of me. Let me just say that I have never read a book that so closely paralleled my own feelings towards bathroom design (or Undesign).
Why are most designers (architectural, interior, or industrial) incapable of creating deeply satisfying bathing environments? Because the key metaphors of design- efficiency, slick modernity, overwhelming visual appeal- are antagonistic to a profound bathing experience. Extraordinary baths instead are complex and distinctly elemental: earthy, sensual, and animistic. They are created by natural geological processes or by composers of sensory stimulation working in an intuitive, poetic, open-minded-undesign-manner.
What an interesting way to re-define my job description as a bath designer... a composer of sensory stimulation, working intuitively and poetically.Now if I could only find more open-minded clients...
(note- Leonard Koren also wrote Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers 1994 Stone Bridge Press....what I would consider the core textbook of western wabi-sabi study)
1 comment:
I feel the same way! When I was 7, my parents took me to Hawaii. We had friends living on the main island and we visited them. The master bathroom's shower was outside, with one wall of stone guarding it from the wind. While you showered, the only thing in front of you was a small cliff, then ocean, and luckily, whales. I'll never forget it.
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