25 design books that will transform your ideas, as recommended by Britain’s best designers and designers
As Giles puts it, ‘the best outcomes rely on where you look for inspiration’, and that means books and buildings just as much as people.
This is the second part of our experts’ experts series; the first looked at the best craftspeople in Britain, as recommended by a panel made up from members of our Country Life Top 100.
From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe (Picador) is searingly witty about us fumbling, twisted, egotistic architects.
Christian Fleming, Fleming Architects
I have recently been included in Wonderlands: British Garden Designers at Home by Clare Coulson (Hardie Grant). It is a fascinating exploration of thoughts and design processes and the photos by Éva Németh are truly magnificent.
Butter Wakefield
Near & Far: Interiors I Love by Lisa Fine (Vendome Press) is great inspiration for interior designers and textile lovers.
Kit Kemp
English Decoration in the 18th Century by John Fowler and John Cornforth (Barrie & Jenkins) taught me that, to understand the history of decoration, you need to know how the client lived and how their furnishings were made.
Edward Bulmer
James Gibbs’s Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture is my favourite book on architecture. He was the only architect of his generation to train in Rome and returned to Britain with a new, simple, geometric way of setting out the Classical Orders. Originally published in 1753, the first edition was bought by wealthy clients, then re-published, a page a week, so that every carpenter and stonemason could afford to buy it. Once these principles are understood, you can be inventive in your designs, confident that they will be beautiful, practical and enduring. I have designed a range of classical porches for Haddonstone based on Gibbsian principles.
Hugh Petter, Adam Architecture
The Radcliffe Camera, the a reading room for the Bodleian Library of Oxford University, was designed by James Gibbs.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The English House by Hermann Muthesius is an illustrated three-volume study of English houses first published in 1904 for a German audience. Comprehensive, utterly fascinating and sometimes quite comical.
Tom Turner
The collected works of prolific writer Beverley Nichols. He wrote on everything from detectives to cats, as well as his gardens in London and the country. They are neither about design nor the practicalities, concentrating instead on the joy of making a garden.
James Alexander-Sinclair
I thoroughly enjoyed Patrick Baty’s The Anatomy of Colour (Thames & Hudson), an excellent and detailed narrative of the history of colour in the modern era and a superb introduction to historic paint types.
Tom Balch, Rose of Jericho
There are many that I depend upon for inspiration and information, but one that springs to mind is an exceptionally beautiful book, Irish Georgian by Herbert Ypma (Thames & Hudson), which we had at home when I was growing up. I remember poring over the atmospheric photos by René and Barbara Stoeltie.
Rupert Cunningham, Ben Pentreath Studio
Timeless Interiors by Axel Vervoordt (Flammarion) was one of the first design books I bought in my early twenties. It beautifully showcases his diverse talent and refined skill.
James Thurstan Waterworth, Thurstan
Lunuganga by Geoffrey Bawa (Times Editions) gives an excellent insight into the architect’s way of thinking.
Craftspeople
I always find inspiration in The Interiors of Chester Jones by Henry Russell (Merrell).
Isabella Worsley
A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander (Oxford University Press) provides good simple analysis about why we feel comfortable in certain types of spaces and not in others. All young architects should read it.
Mark Hoare, Hoare, Ridge & Morris
I often refer back to Gertrude Jekyll’s Garden Ornament (ACC Art Books) for its inspiring, beautiful examples of bridges and summerhouses to gates and stonework.
Rupert Golby
Life in the English Country House by Mark Girouard (Yale University Press) is a classic.
Christopher Lawler, Johnston Cave
Our books by interior designer Steven Gambrel are very well thumbed.
Bunny Turner, Turner Pocock
Brilliant English Gardens by Clive Nichols (Clearview) is full of inspiration and Colour In Your Garden by Penelope Hobhouse (Frances Lincoln) is well thumbed and much loved.
Angela Collins, Angela Collins Garden Design
Any book published by Beta-Plus (www.shopbetaplus.com) gets my attention. Also, Sir John Summerson’s The Classical Language of Architecture (Thames & Hudson), Sir Edwin Lutyens: The Arts and Crafts Houses by David Cole (The Images Publishing Group) and the A.S.G. Butler three-volume set, The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens (ACC Art Books), stand out.
Mungo Adam-Smith, Ian Adam-Smith Architects
Piet Oudolf’s books on plants, Nori and Sandra Pope’s Colour by Design (Conran Octopus), Russell Page on classical gardens and Beth Chatto on right plant, right place—and many more.
Libby Russell, Mazzullo + Russell
I would single out The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens by A. S. G. Butler (ACC Art Books), Danish Furniture Design in the 20th Century by Arne Karlsen (Dansk Møbelkunst) and The Gardens of Arne Maynard by the celebrated designer (Merrell).
Guy Oliver, Oliver Laws
This feature originally appeared in the print edition on July 9, 2025 — here’s how you can subscribe to Country Life magazine.
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