THE ULTIMATE BATH

Author Barbara Sallick (Rizzoli)
Foreword by Peter Sallick

Barbara Sallick remembers a particular shower she took nearly four decades ago. As she recalls in her new book, The Ultimate Bath (Rizzoli), she and her husband had purposely checked into a deluxe suite at London’s Claridge House so that they could try out the bathroom—use that very room as inspiration for what was then their still-nascent company, Waterworks. As she writes, “It was my first experience with a pre-War rain shower, and as this was London—where they really know rain—the cloudburst that came crashing down made me want to reach for an umbrella.”

She and her husband realized that by elevating the experience of such prosaic tasks as taking a bath or shower, washing your face in the sink, toweling dry, your life could be made better. “What the experience taught me is that there is a difference…between a bath that fulfills all of your basic needs and one that provides a heightened, indelible experience,” she recalls.

This is a book as much about ways to make your own bathroom into an inspiring room in which you wish to linger, as it is a reflection of how Sallick built Waterworks into the business it has become. And as Waterworks has expanded and grown with its variety of fixtures, notable designers such as Gil Schafer, Miles Redd, and Brigette Romanek continue to use the distinctive Waterworks creations for their own projects.

Sallick sees the world also as a lover of art and design. She writes of the importance of “the artful bath,” of making a space at home in which the “unexpected, exceptional beauty seduces…” Readers will be seduced by the goods pictured here, as well as by Sallick’s personal take on how to create a room that inspires you on a daily basis.