Designers Lori Gilder, Lisa Mende, Tami Ramsay, Rebecca Reynolds, Krista Nye Schwartz, Justin Shaulis and Regina Sturrock, this year’s DXV Design Panelists, recently returned to Literature 101: Challenged to create a bath or kitchen concept drawing that visually translates a popular piece of literature, the designers tackled different, popular pieces of work.

Gilder and Reynolds drew upon Like Water for Chocolate, with a wedding cake comprised of DXV Pop vessel sinks and glazed tiling to reflect the fireplace's warmth. As the pair shared, "“Everything is about flowing with our design—–the tears, the chocolate, the water, even a fountain that is fed from atop with the DXV Lyndon tub spout."

Lori Gilder and Rebecca Reynolds's vignette was inspired by Like Water for Chocolate.

Shaulis created two vignettes to express the central struggle of A Room with a View, wherein heroine Lucy must decide between two men. In this case, the suitors are expressed as an English-style, masculine room, with a minimalist DXV Lyndon soaking tub, as well as another room, replete with light and showcasing the Lyndon trough sink and Percy faucets, which the designer chose because they were evocative of a wedding.

Mende's Breakfast at Tiffany's-inspired bathroom featured retro rough-hewn floors and brick walling offset by zebra prints, plus the DXV Pop lavatory and Rem vessel faucet, for a look that, she explains, “is about taking a bit of mid-century chic—–with the lighting and the atmosphere—–then combining it with classic, high-society elements.”

Justin Shaulis' A Room with a View-inspired bathroom

Water for Elephants served as the inspiration for Ramsay and Schwartz, co-owners of Cloth & Kind, whose circus-themed room balanced the modern white DXV Oak Hill freestanding soaking tub with more rustic brass faucets. “Our interiors tend to be very layered and appear curated over time,” explained Ramsay.

Regina Sturrock's Anna Karenina vignette

The classic Anna Karenina was brought to life by Sturrock, who embodied the novel's drama with a black and blue laser-cut marble floor and a "theatrically lit ceiling." As Sturrock notes, "It becomes almost exuberant. Classic but modern, both abstract and simple. I believe there’s real power in that.”