Undesigning the Bath (Blunk Books)
A quarter century after its initial publication, and long since it went out of print, the cult book Undesigning the Bath by Leonard Koren has been rejuvenated and reissued by Blunk Books in collaboration with Koren, the designer Charles De Lisle, and the graphic designer Kajsa Ståhl. This book celebrates the idea that bathing experiences should be elemental, earthy, and organic, and that design, therefore, is antithetical to the most essential form of bathing. Writes Koren: “Undesigned baths—that is, naturalistic baths stripped of all ego and artifice—are particularly conducive to slowing things down (and in the process transforming us back into ourselves).”

Eleven Madison Park: The Plant-Based Chapter (Voracious)
When Eleven Madison Park’s chef-owner, Daniel Humm (the guest on Ep. 53 of Time Sensitive), announced in 2021 that the acclaimed restaurant would reopen with an entirely plant-based menu, it made international headlines. Since that transition, however, the restaurant has continued to do what it has always done best—showcasing, in an artful way, the wide-ranging and often surprising possibilities of the ingredients Humm and his team choose and use. This limited-edition set of books chronicles Eleven Madison Park’s evolution into the first plant-based restaurant ever to earn three Michelin stars. Comprising three volumes—one with a letter by Humm and six of his illustrations, one with recipes, and one featuring photojournalism by the photographer Ye Fan—each slipcased set is signed by Humm and individually hand-numbered.

“José Parlá: Homecoming” at Pérez Art Museum Miami
An ode to his multicultural upbringing between Miami and Puerto Rico and his first solo museum exhibition in his hometown, “José Parlá: Homecoming,” on view through July 6, 2025, is a two-part show that will see the artist paint a site-specific mural in real time for the first iteration of the exhibition, and, for the second, transform the space into a studio—a room full of paint-covered tables, a sprawling Cuban-inspired record collection, and decades of his archival belongings. Following his recovery from a life-threatening case of Covid-19 in 2021, which Parlá spoke about at length on Ep. 95 of Time Sensitive, the presentation represents not only a homecoming to Miami, but also a return to himself and his practice after this harrowing experience.

Immediately upon entering The Okura Tokyo, located in the city’s dense Toranomon business district, an “Okura aura” will wash over you. Step through the front door to the check-in desk of this vast, 508-room property, and an impressive choreography will ensue, swiftly transitioning you into an entirely different space of mind, body, and spirit. A world of Japanese simplicity, elegance, tradition, and innovation will seamlessly unfold. You may experience awe, or maybe even a floating feeling, as if you’re in an ethereal dream. This hotel is so exquisite, so well-run, thought-through, and considered, that it seems almost too perfect for this world.

Since opening in 1962, The Okura’s mission has been “best accommodation, best cuisine, best service,” and it shows. To that, we would like to unofficially add: “best design.” Though the original hotel, a midcentury icon designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi (1904–1979), was torn down to some controversy and lamentation in 2015, this clean slate made way for a sublimely sensitive overhaul and expansion: two new glass-curtained structures, the Prestige Tower and the adjacent Heritage Wing, opened in 2019 with interiors by Yoshiro’s son, the renowned architect Yoshio Taniguchi.

Rich in history and representative of Japanese culture, this is a place that honors its lasting heritage at every turn. The lobby, first designed by Yoshiro, was painstakingly recreated and resurrected by Yoshio, who treated it with the utmost reverence and care, as something hisei, or sacred, passed from father to son. Extraordinarily, and with a forensic level of investigative detail, Yoshio not only faithfully reproduced the design, materials, and layout of his father’s original creation (albeit turning the room 90 degrees), but also the atmosphere—the light, the acoustics, the temperature, the airflow, the feel.

There’s an enduring intimacy to The Okura that belies the sleek high-rise it’s located inside. Thankfully, the lobby remains the star of the show; without it, The Okura would not be The Okura. The oversized, expertly arranged flower vase; the bead-like hexahedral lanterns strung together and delicately hung from the ceiling, now updated with LEDs inside; the ornamental flower-petal textiles on the walls; the hemp-leaf kumiko lattices running along the windows; the bamboo shoji screens; the lacquered tables and chairs; and the classic world map sketch and Seiko wall clock—it’s all still there, preserved, restored, and timelessly held in place.

Beyond The Okura’s extraordinary design, it’s the omotenashi, or supreme level of hospitality and mindfulness, that pervades the property. The service is so discreetly done that it practically dissolves. For Shinji Umehara, the president and representative director of The Okura Tokyo, the hotel serves as Japan’s reception hall—something it has strived to be from the start. Located across the street from the U.S. embassy and the U.S. ambassador’s residence, there is indeed a diplomatic—if decidedly low-key and unfussy—nature to the place. The Okura Tokyo invites you in with a graceful, elegant bow, and through both its highly refined design and sensitive service says, “Irasshaimase.” Welcome.

This is a condensed and edited excerpt of a text by Spencer Bailey, published in the forthcoming book Design: The Leading Hotels of the World (Monacelli), with editorial direction by The Slowdown.