DORÉ

I am always inspired by couples who can both live and work together. Prosper and Martine Assouline do just that, and with such grace. Driven by their love of books and not being able to find the beautiful and affordable ones they desired, they set out to create their own. They launched their eponymous publishing company together in the mid-90s and have seen it grow into a very successful and super respectable publishing house. I have a lot of their books myself!

Today I am with them in their lovely New York apartment as we chat about how they got their start, what inspires them and what they hope their books bring to their readers.

Take a listen.

[podcast_episode episode=”243817″ ]

On meeting Prosper for the first time…
MARTINE: He was the guy that everybody wanted to know in Paris because he was so creative, full of enthusiasm and so talented. And was funny also. In the morning and all day, he was an Art Director at a magazine, Cosmopolitan, I think, and then at night, he was at Palace, the club, all night, so I don’t know when he was actually sleeping. He was everywhere!

On how they decided to start publishing books…
MARTINE: Prosper would come home from work frustrated because sometimes it is not exactly what he wanted it to be. We had just had Alexandre, he was one year old so I said, why don’t we do something together, at home? We love books, we don’t find the books we would love to find. Let’s try to do something that we can do together, so it will be our oxygen.

On what the publishing landscape was like when they started…
MARTINE: There were very good publishers but I will say the books were very classic, not very surprising and not a lot offered on fashion. We started with fashion because we knew about it and we wanted to open that area up. And we knew fashion students couldn’t afford the books that were on fashion because at the time there were about 700 French Francs. So we thought we had to find a way to do something more contemporary and affordable, but serious while still light in spirit.

On what culture is to them…
PROSPER: It comes with the mix of all the smells, the tastes, the spices, which you find every day traveling. We travel a lot. Whenever we travel, we discover a lot and are very curious. And that is our culture.

On how they feel about the future of books…
PROSPER: We try to survive. We are very confident for our books. And we opened our own stores to protect us.
MARTINE: And really, I think this virtual world needs tangible things. And tangible things go with books which are beautiful objects and at the same time, it’s content that brings you emotion, knowledge, intellect. It’s very important and also to know how to catch people through images and to inspire them. Our direction is to bring inspiration and to move people.

On what’s next for Assouline stores…
PROSPER: We have no master plan. Our idea has always been the same, which is a library feeling. We love a library. All of our stores are like a library, could be a small store or a big store like Maison Assouline in London. It’s huge and two floors, but it is like a library. And in a library, you don’t just have books. You have furniture and all of the lifestyle of a library – paintings and sculptures. This is what we like and this is our life.

On what success is to them…
MARTINE: We never forget to put time on the calendar for travel. To balance a busy life with the good things and to enjoy them. I think that maybe our success is there, that we don’t forget to live life. To renew yourself and to have the link with new people who inspire you.
PROSPER: You have to be curious, always. To understand and to look out and be open.

On realizing they had been to Garance’s family restaurant in Corsica…
PROSPER: It is true! In Girolata! We’ve known it for 20 or 25 years!
MARTINE: It was a dream place. I am so sad it doesn’t exist anymore!

On their advice for becoming more cultured…
PROSPER: Look at everything! Listen and look at everything. Be curious.