The Grand Tourist Returns: The Assoulines

TRANSCRIPT

Prosper Assouline: People understand how to use a book. It’s not just to read. It’s not a math book where you are going to learn something that is going to help you with your day-to-day. It’s going to open your mind. So, it’s like a collection of movies. It’s not Amazon, with five million movies that you can see. We are doing the editing and we are proposing to customers the best of the best about style. Of the 2,000 books that we did, 80% are really just about style.

Dan Rubinstein: Hi, I’m Dan Rubinstein, and this is The Grand Tourist. I’ve been a design journalist for more than 20 years, and this is my personalized guided tour through the worlds of fashion, art, architecture, food, and travel, all the elements of a well-lived life. And welcome to our first episode of The Grand Tourist Returns.

You know, it’s been one crazy fall here at The Grand Tourist. We’re planning two print issues in 2026, not to mention dozens of new podcasts. It’s hard to think that since we launched the podcast back in 2021, we’ve done almost 150 episodes.

And some of our more popular ones predate our current website, which got me thinking now might be the perfect time to revisit some of these absolute classics. One of my personal favorites, and definitely a favorite of those listeners out there, would be the time I met the powerhouse family behind the art, fashion, and travel publishing house Assouline. Founded by French couple Prosper and Martine Assouline in the mid-1990s, and now joined by their son Alexandre, their publishing house broke the mold in so many ways.

To date, they’ve made almost 2,000 books, but it started with a single project that was so on the money it’s still in print today, even for this special rerun episode. A title on the famed ultra-exclusive hotel in the south of France, La Colombe d’Or. More on that later.

Starting in Paris and later expanding to New York, where the company is based today, Assouline publishes books that are never academic, but instead distill the essence of a place, person, or brand into a visual format that itself is a work of art. Whether it’s a book about the Amalfi Coast, the high jewelry of Cartier, or the works of Picasso. Today, the publishing house of Assouline is evolving into a fully-fledged lifestyle brand, with flagship stores, various gifts and accessories, and even a library curation service. And this fall in 2025, they’re launching their own collection of vintage design objects and little artworks curated by Prosper himself, culled from his many travels. During my interview, I found the Assoulines to be gracious, passionate, and inspiring. To me, their words are definitely worth a second listen.

So many people out there told me that they were fascinated to hear the actual voices behind this incredible creative enterprise, to hear their stories, and give their glamorous world a human dimension. I caught up with Martine, Prosper, and Alex from their respective homes and offices in New York to talk about how they accidentally found themselves starting a publishing house, why true style has nothing to do with money, and why the metaverse might be the next great destination for the fashionable set.

In the world of publishing and style, the Assouline name has become so well-known and so synonymous after such a long period of time. But I’m fascinated with the early days of the publishing house and the hotel, that I believe you guys were just visiting, La Colombe d’Or. How did that begin? When was the genesis of your first book?

PA: It started with absolutely not the idea to create a publishing company. This is more important. It started with love.

It is a place in the South of France named La Colombe d’Or, which is full of history. Just because Martine and I love this place so much and love the family and the people, we wanted to just make a book after they agreed to do it. They didn’t agree to do the book. They said, “No, we don’t want to do a book.” All the publishers in the world wanted to do a book on the history of La Colombe d’Or. And they were afraid of the mature view, you know, something too nouveau riche and the painting, the people, etc.

And we wanted exactly the opposite. We wanted to do a book like a movie. So, I did all of the pictures and Martine wrote the text. We showed it to the family and we wanted to do it like a private book, you know. So, it was really made in our kitchen, a real kitchen in Paris. And we wanted to make it like a movie. So, we wanted to show the shadows, the smell, really what was interesting to us, not to the people. We didn’t want to do a book. The fact was we wanted to create something interesting, but we didn’t want to do a book to be in the bookstore and to be sold, etc. We didn’t know anybody in the industry, zero. We didn’t know anything. 

So, we did this book. They were very surprised and loved it. We printed this book with no idea about the rights because—after Martine can explain to you—when you do a picture of someone with a Picasso on the back, you need to pay Picasso.

We had no idea about that. So, we did the book. We published the book and the book had a big success in the press because people were very surprised to see how this book was so interesting because it’s like a movie, it’s like a video clip. It’s not just picture with text. And it was a big surprise because 29 years later, at the Colombe d’Or, they’re still selling—in a hotel where they have only 25 —around 1,000 books every year, in the same small hotel. So, the start is that and it’s true.

Martine, what did you think about this idea in the early days? Did you think it was crazy? Why a book, of all things? Especially because to do any book is a big undertaking, but if you’re doing it independently, that’s quite the challenge.

Martine Assouline: I think that we knew the place so well that it was a way for us to apply that on the page, to bring the spirit of the place and a little bit of the mind of this family that we love and who created this place which is so different, and still is. When we finished the book, they were in heaven because they understood that it was not just to show people who come to the clients, etc., who are very well known. It was not about that.

It was really the spirit, quality of lifestyle of Provence, which there, is at the best. So, we did the book, and we started to have interest from the press and I said, “Okay, there is a television who wants to go and to show something. And then they said, “Okay, we are going to ask César,” the big French artist, “we are going to ask César to make an omelette in the kitchen. And that was the launch of La Colombe d’Or, for you to understand the spirit.

PA: And just to finish on that, we published this book 29 years ago and we reprinted this book, I don’t know, maybe 20 times. We never changed anything. We never updated it. So, it’s the same layout. The DNA of this book is the same as the DNA of the book published today. And in the meantime, we published more than 2,000 books. So, it’s the same layout, the same font, and we continue to use exactly the same ingredients to do our books.

And Alex, as someone who’s been raised in this—I don’t know if you’re as old as that first book—but how do you describe to someone that you meet, that maybe doesn’t know Assouline, the ingredients of the company?

AA: So, the publishing house started the year I was born, actually. So, yeah, exactly that age. I think that just this particular story is important. That means that it starts with passion. And when a luxury brand starts with passion, it’s inspiring to the people working in it, and focuses a lot on that heritage. So, this is the main point that I make to describe the company.

MA: But I can add a little story because Alex was raised at La Colombe d’Or, going every year, and he almost became a bartender because the bartender fell in love with Alex. And so, he was four or five years old, and he was on a big box with the bartender at the bar, and he started to do everything, and he loved to do that. So, the clients loved Alex.

Can you make a good martini, Alex?

As I hear.

Good, good.

Prosper, I’ve read that you were born and raised in Morocco, and it’s easy to see that connection between that and many of the books and their love of the Mediterranean and sense of sunshine and sky and landscape. What was your life like before that book, before La Colombe d’Or and the birth of the publishing house?

PA: To tell you the truth, it was the same, because I have been in the creative world from 16 years old. I started to work at 16 in the back office of a magazine in France. So, I was always working, mixing words and images. So, it was really my day-to-day, etc. So, to do a book, it was more important. Because the magazine, you put it in the garbage, and the book, you always keep that. But it was always the same oxygen.

What magazines were you working on?

PA: It was Paris Match, Photo magazine, and a lot more. But always in the art direction department.

And Martine, you worked in law before starting your company with Prosper, if I’m getting that right. How did you find yourself working in law?

MA: I was a student. Before I started law, I also studied a little bit of interior architecture. But like a lot of people of my age, I didn’t have, like Prosper, some real idea of what I wanted to do in my life. So, my father said—he did so much studying, he wanted me to be independent in life as a woman—he said, “You study law, and law is going to open every opportunity, not only to being a lawyer, but all kind of doors.” And it is true, because it completely forms your mind, and it was good. But after I tried a lot of things, I didn’t want to be a lawyer. It was boring for me.

What was the craziest thing you tried?

MA: Oh, I was in many things concerning image. I wrote, I was taking pictures sometimes, I made PR. I started a PR company with some professional who wanted to do it with me. After, I went to Rochas for three years, where I was the director of communication. And then, all that, I married Prosper, and I loved what he was doing for years, because we were friends.

And I started to say, “Okay, I’m very good in literature and in words, you are good in images, let’s do something together.” And Alex arrived, and I wanted to be a little bit at home with him. So I quit. And I started to do these books at home.

And Alex, you’ve been growing up in this business your entire life. What are your earliest memories of the business? It must be sort of omnipresent in your life. But do you have an early memory of the publishing company?

Alex Assouline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, pretty clear. Me, as you can imagine, I met them at the hospital. So, very different perspectives. But when I got home that first day, I guess, Martine’s office was in my bedroom. So I grew up a little bit surrounded by beauty and surrounded by images, contact sheets, and just training my eye on all this. Just being exposed to interior design, and then to all the brands they were working on, and fashion, art, architecture, and so on. So that was very, very interesting at an early age. And at 10 years old, I started working with them doing the stock room, inventory, and then designing and helping them to set up corners and stores around the world. And it was really fun because every trip we were taking was related to specific things. So, either an opening of a boutique, or just working on the next book. And that was really, really interesting growing up.

MA: I have a little anecdote that really, for me, marked the starting of Alex. He was, I think, 10 or 11 years old. And we were in New York, and Prosper was doing the catalogue of Bergdorf Goodman and he met the CEO and had lunch with the CEO. And the CEO asked him, “What you do, la la la…” and he said, “I’m doing books, but my idea is to make the first luxury brand in culture.” So enlarging the idea completely and making it something about culture, through books but also through lifestyle.

And he explained what he was starting to do. And the day after—or no, it was in the afternoon—the CEO called him and said, “Can you come to Bergdorf tomorrow?” And so he said, “Yes, okay.”

And he arrived at Bergdorf. And the CEO was fresh at that time. I loved this guy, because it was at the beginning of something very important. And it was, like in a movie, a big table with six persons with notebooks and they said “Okay, when we are going to start, we are going to give you a big place on the seventh floor of Bergdorf Goodman. And they said “Okay, September. We said, “No, we are not ready.” So they said, “Okay, October.”

So, we didn’t go on any vacations. And we started to do everything for this opening. For us, it was a fantastic chance, we were opening for the first time, having everything we like, and we were all in the same place, all together. So we needed Alex, we started to need Alex in doing things, he helped us. And that is the beginning, after our boutiques.

And Alex, did you do so willingly? Or was this a chore for a young man?

AA: With no resistance. No, no, I actually enjoyed doing it. You know, having a seat at the table, bringing ideas together, making sketches and everything. I was very, very young at the time. So, every year I was trying to help in one way or another. And when I finished college, I immediately came to start as a designer.

Obviously, all three of you know the business very well. In fashion, people say, “Oh, there is a certain girl that someone designs for.” So, I’m curious, is there a classic Assouline consumer—someone who collects your books, and is the most likely to run out and buy them—and how would you describe that Assouline reader? I think it is so key to your success that you understand that crowd very well, because you’re also living the life of the people you are making these books for, in a sense.

PA: If it’s not pretentious, I’m going to tell you something. But if it is not pretentious. Because, I really think our book collection is really a book collection and not just shared with books. So, if someone likes one book and has a chance to see a lot, like in a store, he’s going to buy 10. And if someone likes 10 books, he is going to buy 100. Not at the same time, but he’s going to go in this direction. Why? I always say something very important.The reputation, it is a repetition. So the reputation equals the repetition. And that’s exactly what you do.

We do only three collections. So we have the ultimate collection made by hand, and we have, I don’t know, 60 or 70. We have travel, that’s a big collection we have. So it’s a collection. So the customer that we have, really, when he starts to understand and to love Assouline, we have him completely for a long time, because we have a lot to tell. It’s not a surprise about what will be next. We understand what will be next.

And who is that person, if you have to describe that person that collects and really loves what you do?

PA: It’s somebody who is around 35, I would like to say, who likes quality, and who understands what design is. Because our books are closed almost 80% of the time, okay? So, they are part of your apartment. They are part of your life. They are part of your lifestyle. So, people understand how to use a book. It’s not just to read. It’s not a math book where you are going to learn something that is going to help you with your day-to-day. It’s going to open your mind. So, it’s like a collection of movies. It’s not Amazon, with five million movies that you can see. We are doing the editing and we are proposing to customers the best of the best about style. Of the 2,000 books that we did, 80% are really just about style.

And in the early days of the business, how did you convince this many fashion houses to create these books? What was the landscape like at the time? Today it seems obvious, but obviously you were doing something very new back then.

PA: There were no books on fashion at all at this time. It seems crazy, but 30 years ago, there were no books. There were few books and they were very expensive, super boring, and made for museums by museum conservators.

So, it was not really something very sexy and appealing, etc. When, with Martine, we decided to touch this subject of fashion—it was in 1995,  the first set of collections. We decided to make it not for the public who was interested in fashion to buy a book at $100, etc, but the student.

So, we wanted to do, for the student, the best book ever. The best quality ever, with a very low price. So we did a book. It was a small size, but not so small, 80 pages, hard cover, beautiful, well done, excellent paper, etc.

And one book by a designer. And we decided, because we came from the magazine, we don’t come from the publishing and we still don’t know anybody in the publishing world today. I have no idea who they are. So, we decided to sell this book and to show this book four by four. So every four months, we publish four by four and we mixed the energy.

So it was Alaïa with George, Chanel and Madeleine Vionnet. So that was the first set. And the text, very short, but something like 20 pages, 18 pages of text by the best writer on this moment and the energy of the brand.

And after that we have six pages just for the caption. This book was completely new. It’s like you put something completely new on the table.

Nobody saw that before. And it was such a success. We sold this book not just to the student, but really to everyone.

So, today there are, I don’t know, a hundred books in this collection. You don’t have any fashion house in the world who doesn’t have this collection. It was completely insane. It was translated into 11 languages. And it was really the first big start for Assouline in the world of publishing. People started to take us very seriously and say, “Who are these people?”

MA: We could do that also because we knew very well—we were in Paris at that moment. So we knew the people very well. Alaïa was the best friend of Prosper. We were friends with the people at Chanel.

Prosper was friends with Karl Lagerfeld and with Marie-louise De Clermont-tonnerre, and it was another time where there was more trust, you know, more humanity in exchange. And so, it was possible to do it. And I wanted to do a book with Thierry Mugler. I was with Thierry Mugler the day after, and understanding his spirit more and more, you know, to describe it visually. So that was very important, to know all those people. And we were plunged in the fashion. We loved that. It was a moment of delirium, and freedom, and different than today, which is more, you know, business.

PA: Marketing

Was there a book that you did in the early days that made you think, “Okay, this is now a business. This is now not a passion project like La Columne d’Or?”

PA: This collection. We understood with this collection—when it was translated into 11 languages and we sold millions—we understood this is a business. This collection made us Assouline. It was really the first step.

And you were quoted back in the day, in our beloved Departures magazine, I think you said that chicness and glamour have nothing to do with money.

MA: Sure. It’s true today.

How do you think that outlook has impacted Assouline, the business, today?

PA: To tell you the truth, it was a before and after. But this part of the before, the only interest for us—we could understand this collection will be a business, etc—but it was not important. Most important was the glamour, the style, the quality. It was absolutely not the business. Absolutely not. Today, Alexandre is driving the business. 

Now, we are driving differently as a company. But this first part, the first 10 years, was really about the quality, the glamour and the style and how all of these books could work together and to have a sense. And absolutely never to do book for books Never.

And Alex, you’re of this next generation. So, do you have a different outlook on this sense of style and glamour that maybe is different from your parents?

AA: Yeah, in terms of style, I think my generation focuses much more on individuality, you know, showing off their personal taste through their own style. We like products, experiences that can be personalized to our own tastes, you know. So in a sense, being different is stylish. So, that’s like style for me at the moment. And glamour is something more of the past, that we keep searching for that makes us learn about the old days, something we cover because it’s part of culture.

When you have a discussion with your parents about artists or designers or things like that, what is your taste? And what do you think, in our culture today, driving this conversation? Because something like Assouline has to constantly evolve. You’re doing so many books, and so you’re constantly having to make these decisions of like, who’s next, who to cover and what to cover.

AA: And also, we have a responsibility of—because we work mostly on collection—responsibility of who to pick on these things. Because now that we’re becoming more and more of like that authority in terms of funnels, and I would say culture in editing, we need to pick the right people that are going to be next to, you know, the Cartier, the Buccellati, the Dior and so on, in that same collection, because they are really like shown together. But yeah, style is really—it’s not just fashion for us. It’s in terms of design. It’s also the curation and so on.

And so you guys must be pitched ideas for books all the time. So, I’m curious when you guys are sitting around the table and deciding, “OK, should we do this next book or not?”

PA: It’s obvious. It’s obvious. We know immediately if it’s an Assouline book or not an Assouline book. It’s obvious. It’s crazy, but it’s obvious.

AA: And also, I mean, when we embark on a project, it’s something that’s going to be for a year plus. Because there’s the whole conception of it, and then there’s the development, distribution and marketing of it. So it’s at least one to two years of a full time job, just like on that specific product and project. So, it needs to be something that we want to jump into. That’s something that interests us to the fullest or something that we actually like and want to cover, or something that we want to learn more about because we’re going to spend a year creating it.

You mentioned the Ultimate Collection before this. When was the first one? 

I’m curious as to why you think it was such a big success, because sometimes in the world of book publishing, with things that have a really high price tag, people tend to say, “Well, you’re not going to sell as many copies. There is a limit and a market.” So, how did that Ultimate Collection start? And why do you think it’s been so successful that you’ve been able to do them for so long?

PA: Number one, it’s important not to create a marketing product, because if you create a marketing product, it’s going to have a short life. So number two, what we wanted was to create the sensibility, the emotion of something, a book, on the ultimate subject made just for you. So it’s made by hand. So, in this collection, almost all of the pictures are [inaudible 30:10] by hand. To make boxes like that with this textile, etc, made in Italy, in Milan—it’s really artisan work. Each book—not the collection—each book. And you have a tag, a label in each book, to say Made in Italy. It’s completely insane, this collection, because if we are serious, we need to sell it a little bit more expensive. But I really wanted to have this collection all around the same price, all around $1,000 or $1,200, etc. But they cost a fortune, they are made by hand. And this is very important. This is for the production part.

For the editorial part, it was always very important to do the best of the best and create the ultimate book on this subject for this collection. So when we did Rolex, there’s a hundred books on Rolex. We wanted to have the best 100 watches, the best author for the text. At the end, the CEO called me and told me, “Thank you, it’s the best book ever done on Rolex.” And he didn’t know we were going to do this book. 

When we did Chanel, we wanted to make it like an exhibition. The owner called us, texted us to say “Best book on Chanel ever made.” So we try, each time, to make this book real between the production and the editorial part. So, the word ultimate is not fake. We try every time to do the ultimate on this subject.

The three of you are, I would say, the best travel experts I could probably ever turn to. Where do you think the next hotspot today is, in this new post-pandemic travel period that we’re in? What is the next place we’re all going to be talking about, doing books about? Is there a hotspot that is emerging in this time?

MA: Emerging, it’s always difficult to say. But interesting, because until now we’ve done all the very known places which represent our brands. But now, since we did Athens Riviera—I didn’t even know that it was so interesting and beautiful and close to Athens and so you have all the joy of Athens, you know, which is such an ancient culture, and all the islands also—so these kinds of places, we know them from people who come to us, and explain, and make us curious. 

So, we are traveling a little bit further than the Mediterranean, but keeping Italy and France and Spain like really the spots. We went to Jaipur, we are going to Cairo—we are going to places like that, and trying to find the DNA with what’s happening today, you know, to make the spirit of the place understandable and sexy.

And Prosper, where do you think is the next big spot for travel?

PA: We just did something. We had exactly this question, exactly your question, six months ago. And we said, “Why don’t we go to the moon?” And we did a book on the moon, in this travel series. And it’s about why we don’t go to spend three days on the moon. So, it was all about this methodology, analogy about what could be the ideal weekend on the moon. So, the idea is really to break the rules sometime. We need to continue what we do on travel, we are not going to stop, but it’s good to break the rules. And we are going to break the rules like we just did with the moon. The next one is metaverse. And we are going to create more like this.

Oh, Alex, that brings up a good question. The metaverse, which is seemingly like a topic some people enjoy and some people roll their eyes at. 

And struggle to understand.

And struggle to understand. Would you say you’re on the pro or con side of the metaverse craze?

AA: I’m excited about it. I’m not like overjoyed and going to achieve our entire brand strategy on that. But I’m excited for a new medium and a new way of showcasing products, of telling our story. That’s what I would say.

Speaking of the virtual, obviously, book publishing is one of those things that’s doing so well even though we’ve been told for years that everything was going digital and print was not going to survive, but you guys have done so well. So, are you interested in exploring these virtual things more?

AA: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, again, it’s part of experiences. It’s part of telling a story. As for making a book digital, no. That’s not something that we are… But just an add-on of an experience, absolutely. People tend to start focusing more on books in the past few years, when we were all saying that everything was going digital, because they like that tangible product. They like that tangible aspect. And they also like that curation that you don’t find online. You type the name of a brand or like a specific subject, and you’re going to find hundreds of thousands of pictures on Google. What we do here, it’s the perfect curation. And also with a point of view and the right image with the right text from the right author, and so on. So, that’s what people turn to now. More on the quality factor.

You guys have a lot of amazing titles coming out this fall. So, I wanted to ask each of you, which title are you the most excited about personally?

AA: From the ones we can talk about already.

From the ones in the catalogue, I guess, for the fall. Martine, is there one that you are very excited about?

MA: There’s many, but I think one that will be interesting to see what’s going to happen with, is the one that took us the most passion that time. It is about the book about Virgil Abloh, because it was very different. And the emotion of him leaving—we did that because it came from an idea of a friend. And we plunged totally into that with our editor Kristian. And it has been all a story to make this book.

Prosper, which fall title are you passionate about?

PA: I am in love with the new collection, which we have on style. And we have three now, and it’s going to be three every year. And I love the cover. I love everything. It’s about style. And one was on Art Deco. The second one was on Orientalism. And the third one coming, I think, in the next month is about Pop Art. And the three books together are fantastic, because it’s really a cocktail on this subject. So you learn a lot, you are surprised, it’s breaking the rules, and they are beautiful to live with. So it’s fantastic. But this one is really a collection that I’m really in love with.

And why do you think that this particular series is successful?

PA: Because, I would like to say with no pretentiousness again, it’s an education of style on this subject. So the word education is not on the cover, but it’s here.And it’s very important.

MA: But to answer, they are not for specialists. They are for people who are interested in the subject. We wanted to do something not boring, and very open. And to have in diagonal, all about the best of the best of those periods. What’s so important in the Arts décoratifs is putting together art, interior design, design, fashion, social life, to make someone understand that Art Deco is not only about a beautiful chair or a vase. It’s understanding all the spirit of the period. And that, you can understand by reading those books. And, it’s the excitement in doing them.

PA: Yes, because our clients are not expecting from us to have something specialized. And because our clients, our customers, like fashion, architecture, everything. When we touch a subject like Art Deco, Pop art, et cetera, it has to be with style. It has to be fun. We have a lot of worlds that are part of our ingredients to make a book and that’s really good. So, it could be specialized, but it is specialized with fun. It’s light.

MA: Yes, it’s a question of time, because you have to see a lot, a lot, a lot of things to really make the selection. But it’s also a question of knowing your subject and doing it to create the surprise and doing it in partnership with an author, a good author.

And Alex, is there a book this fall that you think listeners should really pay extra attention to?

AA: Yeah, one that Prosper has been working on for the past year is the one on the brand Audemars Piguet. We’re doing the 60th anniversary of the Royal Oak. And, I wasn’t so much of a watch guy, but it started to intrigue me a little bit, you know, so much happening for one special watch for an anniversary of a brand. So I started to deep dive a little bit. And then for my 30th birthday, my parents gifted me one of the watches. And I started learning more and more about it, articles everywhere, and then the book and so on. And just to understand the level of detail and complexity, in terms of the movement and the caliber and so on, that is so different from one to another, even a year after that, it was just thrilling. So, super excited for this book to be unveiled.

PA: I’m happy that you talk about this book because it’s maybe the best design we did this last year.

And are you doing this independently of them, or is this something they are participating in?

PA: Normally, we are completely independent on them. This one, I know the CEO very well, and we talked about this for 50 years and he said, “Why don’t we do something completely insane? So we create…

That sounds like him.

PA: Yeah. And so we created a book in three different sizes. One size is 1.2 meters, two meters wide, and it’s 70 kilos. This is for the stores. We dream about no limit to create something completely insane. So this one, it was a collaboration, very close collaboration. But it’s really a book that we wanted to do.

And as the publishing industry has evolved, where do you think it’s going? I think this is the million-dollar question that everyone in the world of design and fashion and graphic design, we all want to know where book publishing is going. How do you see the business evolving in the next 10 years?

PA: We are maybe not the right person to reply to that question, because we really feel we are in the lifestyle business and not just in book publishing. So, our books are the reflection of the lifestyle growing on the left side, on the right side, we are the shadow of that. We are a little bit involved, but we are the shadow of what’s going to happen. So, we create this lifestyle and the book is a medium of that. But to reply seriously to your question, we are not the right person.

Alex, where would you like to take the Assouline name in the next generation?

AA: That’s something we’ve been having extensive discussions about. And now that I’m here on the strategy side to take on that direction, it’s clear, we want, as Prosper just said, to create a lifestyle brand. So, we keep making top quality books for the next few years, and that being the center of the business, but starting to own more of the contemporary library.

And then when we talk about libraries, it’s not just about the bookcase, it’s about the entire room, right? So, adding objects, candles, accessories, potentially furniture, and so on is not something that is not out of the conversation, I would say. For now, on the book direction and book side, there’s still a lot to do. In the aspect of experiences, in the aspect of, okay, digital, but to bring the book to life. So, every project that we take is going to have way more time and effort put into it, distribution worldwide and so on. So yes, we have big plans for the next few years.

And Martine, what are your hopes? If you could time travel, and go visit the future 100 years from now, and visit the Assouline headquarters, what would you hope to see there?

MA: It’s a good question. But I’m so deeply in the creation of the books that I’m not really a visionary of the future. So I’m more trying to listen to Prosper and Alex. My idea is to open—it’s been our idea since ever, but it is really deeply my idea—is to open the brand to lifestyle. It has always been more or less like that, with the special editions that we have done for Chanel, for Andrée Putman at that time, for Goyard, you know, the trunk that we have done with 100 books, etc. Flirting with books. But going out of the books is something that I would love, because it’s so much work to do a book. I always say it’s incredible to sell something like that, at such price, when you see so many people around me, I have a fantastic team, but there’s so much creativity and density in doing books, that I would love to have some object done or the kind of things where you just have to have a good design, a good idea, a good creation, and that’s after it’s easy.

PA: No, no, it’s interesting because I feel like you were in our office a few days ago. This is absolutely my goal. It’s a family business. What Alexandre said at the start of the conversation, the emotion is still here. Now we add the savoir-faire and the distribution and the logistics and everything else to make it worldwide. But the emotion is still here. The passion is still here. So we continue to cook, and we continue to make the bread in the same way with the smell and with the best quality. But we don’t want to make water from an excellent wine. So, we are going to continue to control everything.

A special thanks to Veronica Speck and the entire Assouline team and family for making this episode happen. The editor of The Grand Tourist is Stan Hall. To keep this going, don’t forget to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter, The Grand Tourist Curator at thegrandtourist.net.

And follow me on Instagram @danrubinstein. Don’t forget you can purchase the first ever print issue of The Grand Tourist online now on our website. Just a few copies left. And follow The Grand Tourist on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen and leave us a rating or comment. Every little bit helps. Til next time!

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