“True, designers are often knowledgeable about hardware and mechanical systems, and baths are indeed indebted to reliable means of water delivery, heating, disposal, and so forth. But technological virtuosity in the service of bathing, the hallmark of the typical designer’s approach to bath creation, is, in my opinion, a minor virtue considering the total constellation of elements that constitute a great bath. The bath, I feel strongly, should be a place to escape from the depredations of the technological world, not revel in them.

“So how do I define a great bathing environment? It is simply, or rather not-so-simply, a place that helps bring my fundamental sense of who I am into focus. A place that awakens me to my intrinsic earthy, sensual, and paganly reverential nature. A quiet place to enjoy one of life’s finest desserts amidst elemental surroundings. A profoundly personal place, even when shared with other people, suitable for the most intimate sacraments of bathing…”

— Undesigning the Bath