10 best interior design books to gift this Christmas
Looking for an inspiring holiday read? From sneak peeks inside the homes of top fashion designers to advice on upping your green game, here’s Mansion’s guide to the most exciting interior design books for 2024.
Looking for the perfect gift for the design aficionados in your life? Perhaps you know someone who’s building a house and in need of design inspiration. Ahead, Mansion’s guide to the best interior design books to gift – or keep for yourself – this holiday season.
The 10 best interior design books to gift this Christmas
Italian Interiors: Rooms with a View
By Laura May Todd
Like a great Italian meal, this tome is a delight to consume. A feast for the eyes, it takes readers through 50 glorious Italian homes, including the minimalist apartment of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke in Rome, a contemporary reinterpretation of a Gio Ponti masterpiece in Milan and a Lake Como retreat transformed by Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino. Delicious images are matched with bite-size essays on each property’s design.
Phaidon, $100
New Coastal
By Ingrid Weir
The author has drawn inspiration from her childhood to create this beautiful homage to coastal living. From an A-frame house in Western Australia’s Esperance to a beach cottage in Portland, Maine, the book features charming homes scattered along the coasts of Australia and the US. With a background in costume and set design, Weir also offers practical advice on embracing coastal living.
Hardie Grant Books $60
Design: the Leading Hotels of the World
By Spencer Bailey
Featuring more than 70 superbly designed hotels around the world, this book may be the next best thing to a holiday. Contributions from top travel, culture and design journalists complement gorgeous imagery highlighting the exquisite design and architecture of a selection of The Leading Hotels of the World properties, from the arid deserts of Arizona to the bustling streets of Tokyo.
Phaidon, $110
Studio Ashby: Home Art Soul
By Sophie Ashby
This offering celebrates a decade of design for the award-winning London-based Studio Ashby by opening the door to an array of projects including founder Sophia Ashby’s exciting East London home. In her foreword, Architectural Digest editor-in-chief Amy Astley pays tribute to Ashby’s adventurous attitude and signature “happy clashing” style, which is on full display throughout this gorgeous book.
Rizzoli, $130
Modern Heritage
By Cameron Bruhn
If 21st century minimalism leaves you cold, leading architect Cameron Bruhn’s tribute to Australia’s inter-war heritage homes will warm your heart. Sharing the stories of 20 homes built from the 1920s to the 1940s, Bruhn celebrates a period in our nation’s architecture that includes elements of Spanish Mission, Art Deco and Old English. The book offers cultural context as well as insights into how these historic homes have been given a new life.
Thames & Hudson Australia, $79.99
The Furnishing Handbook
By Frida Ramstedt
Written by Frida Ramstedt – the founder of one of Sweden’s leading design blogs, Trendenser – this book could be the smartest investment you ever make in furniture. Starting with an eye-opening chapter on anthropometrics (the measurement of the human body), the handbook guides readers through the principles of choosing, arranging and caring for furniture. From understanding the dimensions needed to ensure comfort to matching the scale of different pieces in a room, Ramstedt’s advice will help you select good furniture and ensure it looks beautiful in your space.
Penguin Random House, $65
The Home Office Reimagined
By Oscar Riera Ojeda and James Moore McCown
Who knew working from home could be so inspiring? This book takes readers inside 25
superbly designed pavilions, shacks and extensions that serve as offices in homes around the world, from Melbourne to New York and the Vienna Woods. With stunning photography and satisfying design detail, this offering will motivate you to get to work creating your own beautiful home office space.
Rizzoli, $130
THIS CREATIVE LIFE: FASHION DESIGNERS AT HOME
By Robyn Lea
Proving that creativity knows no bounds, Australian author and photographer Robyn Lea has stepped inside the homes of 20 fashion designers to collate this colourful collection.
Included are Martin Grant’s one-bedroom Parisian apartment and Laudomia Pucci’s 14th-century palazzo in Florence, with each designer’s abode showcasing the same energy and imagination that has made their clothes famous around the globe.
Thames & Hudson Australia, $79.99
THE PLANT SOCIETY DESIGN HANDBOOK
By Jason Chongue
From planning a fuss-free front garden to styling plants on your bookshelves and balconies, Plant Society founder and trained architect Jason Chongue shares his eye for design and his knowledge of plants in his latest book. As inspiring as it is informative, the handbook includes more than 40 of Chongue’s easy-to-follow plant design “recipes” and blueprints for creating gorgeous green spaces in your home.
Murdoch Books, $45
Outside In
By Lauren Camilleri and Sophia Kaplan
Recognising the restorative role that greenery can play in our lives, Outside In showcases 25 Australian and international homes that embrace nature in their design. Beautiful images are accompanied with details of the plantings as well as interior design highlights to inspire readers to introduce more nature into their homes.
Smith St Books, $65
This story is from the November issue of Mansion Magazine.
