In every room or particular area of the house there’s one element or furniture piece which stands out from the rest and which dictates the way everything else is placed and oriented. In the bathroom, that element is usually the bathtub.

Its central role is due to its size but also its function and the ambiance that revolves around it. Bathtubs come in numerous different styles, shapes, sizes, colors, finishes and they can also be made of various different materials. Each type is special and inspiring in its own way.

Freestanding bathtubs are usually the most interesting and eye-catching ones. The ones in the Papillon series are especially beautiful. Each tub is carved is carved from a single block of material and is made to order, with the possibility to be customized. You can choose from seven different materials and finishes including granite, travertine, sandstone, limestone and Carrara marble. The sandstone version looks very much like a wooden bathtub and that can potentially give the entire room a luxurious spa-like feel.

The Natural Bathtub is able to fit wonderfully in both indoor and outdoor bathrooms. Once again, each tub is carved from a single block of either granite or marble. The granite tubs have chiseled exteriors which makes them better suited for exterior areas while the marble ones are polished and thus easier to integrate in indoor areas.

Spa by nespoli e novara is a circular freestanding bathtub which has a lot of character in spite of its simple form and design. Given the form as well as the aspect, this tub is practically meant to be a focal point regardless of the color or material you choose for it or of its placement in the bathroom. The material and finish options include Carrara marble, moonstone, basaltina, black rock and several others.

The Inkstone bathtub by Steve Leung is another example of a product which impresses through simplicity and quality. Its design is refined and elegant and it’s easy to imagine all sorts of sophisticated bathtub surrounds and chic bathroom decors that go with it. We suggest a casual-chic approach.

The Burlesque tub designed by Giorgio Silla has an ovaloide shape which in itself is enough to make it stand out from other similar products. In addition to that this tub is carved out of a single solid block of stone. Its exterior is quite sculptural but in a simple and elegant manner.

This is the Kalla bathtub. Its design is a harmonious balance between the intrinsic beauty of marble as a material and the rather special shape which suggests a rectangle but with curved corners for a more delicate and pleasant look.

The Le Acque tub is a limited edition product designed by Claudio Silvestrin. We like its organic form and the overall natural, raw appearance. This is a tub with a lot of character and with great potential to become a statement piece.

Stone bathtubs are high-end and sophisticated and have designs that usually try to capture the beauty and uniqueness of the material they’re made of as best as possible. We’re so impressed by the looks that we often forget to consider the practical side of such a product. For example, this is Boat 50, an oval tub made out of a hollowed stone block. It weighs 500 kg and it requires special so make sure you learn how to clean and maintain it to avoid damage.

The Bowl 140 tub is ever heavier, weighing 1500 kg. It has a round shape and it’s deeper than most regular tubs which makes it quite similar to a Japanese soaking tub. The design is a stylish option for bathrooms which only have room for small bathtubs.

Meet Ago4, a contemporary tub with a very special design that combines gentle curves, straight lines and simple geometry and which also features a thin edge and sloping sides. the tub is made of Ceramilux, a material with great plasticity and extraordinary potential.

This is the Vieques XS designed by Patricia Urquiola in 2013. It’s a contemporary tub which revives the elegance of charm of older models. This is a very successful and tasteful restyling of the old-fashioned tub. If you’d like the same beautiful lines and harmonious design but in a bigger package, check out the Vieques bathtub.

Minimal in design and only slightly asymmetrical, the Desco tubs designed by Vittorio Longheu are not only very stylish but also very precious, keeping alive the finest and most sophisticated Italian handcrafting tradition.

Eclipse is an egg-shaped freestanding tub designed by Marco di Paolo for antoniolupi. It’s designed to be stylish, versatile, sophisticated as well as ergonomic and practical. A small storage shelf is seamlessly integrated into the continuous form of the tub, becoming a very practical feature which makes total sense and complements the design perfectly.

What could be more poetic than a bathtub carved by water? On that note, we present to you the Epoque tub which is made out of a block of Amazzone stone carved with water. Its form and design are simple, fluid and sculptural with an emphasis on simplicity and contemporary elegance but also on the natural qualities of the material used.

After seeing the Lunetta bathtub we can’t imagine a design that’s more comfortable and better suited for a tub than this one. This is a perfect mixture of organic beauty, sinuous elegance and ergonomic appeal. This is a tub designed to make the user feel comfortable, to offer privacy and also to look exquisite, a perfect blend of form and function.

The Suite borrows its elegance from retro and classical bathtubs. Its sinuous lines and the signature fold back edge give it a distinguished look and a strong identity. Further more, given that it revisits the classical tub design, it fits in a variety of different bathroom decors and styles.

The Vascabarca tub was only produced in a very limited edition of only ten pieces, each one numbered and signed by the designers, Anne and Patrick Poirier. Each tub is sculpted out of a solid block of stone grey and is suitable for both indoor and outdoor environments.

This is Wanda, a beautiful and classy Antoniolupi tub with an ergonomic and at the same time very chic, stylish and clean form, soft edges and smooth curves as well as an overall feminine allure. The tub invites you to lean back, relax and enjoy the experience.

Figuring out why this tub is special is not difficult, given that the design proudly emphasizes it. Cuna is a tub with a frame/ support structure which is pretty unusual. This structure is white and made of stainless steel and it contrasts with the black exterior surface of the tub but matches the interior which ensures a pretty balanced design overall.

Wood is not normally a material that you want to expose to the humidity in the bathroom and based on this preconception wooden bathtubs don’t really make a lot of sense. They are however very real and very exquisite. The Shell tub from the Pure luxury spa collection is made from a single block or hand-polished and oiled aromatic walnut. It’s delicate, sophisticated and produced with high precision and exceptional attention to detail.

Looking at the Prime bathtub we can’t help but notice just how smooth and organic its shape it. The design is inspired by the manner in which water shapes elastic materials, more exactly by the form of water balloons.

Nothing really compares to the wonderful sensation of relaxing in a hammock just like nothing compares to the experience of taking a relaxing bath. These two elements have been wonderfully combined and the result is the Hammock Bath, the ultimate carbon fiber tub by Splinter Works. It has a continuous curved form and it’s incredibly strong and able to remain completely rigid at all times while also being lightweight.

There are several other unusual bathtub designs that we’d like to share with you today and one of them is that of the Otaku tub designed by Tal Engel. The design is inspired by traditional asian boat building techniques and is based on an inside out theory which compares the opposite experiences of floating in a boat and soaking in a tub, hence the outside of the boat becomes the inside of the tub.

After the amazing success and impact of the Hammock Tub, Splinter Works decided to also design a freestanding version of their flagship carbon fiber tub. That’s how the Vessel series came to be. It’s comprised of a sculptural and very edgy tub and a similarly exquisite washbasin.

The Kora bathtub from Kreoo looks a lot like an oversized washbasin and in a way that’s exactly what it is. The tub has ellipsoidal shape and is made out of a single block of marble, carved using a meticulous technique. It’s handcrafted and that means each individual tub is unique. It rests on an iron tripod structure which allows it to be suspended above ground and to look lightweight.

Speaking and bathtubs and washbasins and how they influence each other’s design, we came across a design which literally puts the two together into a hybrid. This is a bathtub with a washbasin integrated right into its structure. It’s designed by desnahemisfera and it’s really interesting and very intriguing from a variety of perspectives.

This is DR, a bathtub for two designed by Marcio Kogan and Mariana Ruzante of Studio mk27 for Agape. It has a curvy and organic form meant to allow two users to enjoy it comfortably at the same time.

Last but not least, a bathtub dressed in fabric. At first, you can’t really tell that the tub is coated in fabric simply because it’s so unusual and so unexpected. However, once you’ve found out this fact, you can’t unsee it. With this design BetteLux Oval Couture tuns the bathtub into an exquisite accessory, a statement object worthy of becoming a focal point.