The first time I made my way to Maison Assouline was with a broken foot, in a tragic boot and crutches. Certainly, I was shown up by what is a glorious (and quite underrated) setting. It is a three-floor public showroom for the self-professed “Hermès of publishing”, which was founded in 1994 and is renowned for its coffee table travel books, top-end fashion collaborations and exquisite, XXL-size tomes that start at a grand.
I was there for a Moschino bash, and to interview the brand’s then creative director Jeremy Scott, but as I hobbled along Piccadilly, I was taken aback. It’s one of those painfully noticeable, beautiful little buildings, bang opposite the Royal Academy of Arts, that I had never spotted before. It’s charming.
The old banking hall, first designed by Edwin Lutyens (the architect behind the Midland Bank, now The Ned members’ club, as well as Delhi’s India Gate) in 1922, has been a salon-style bookshop and soirée site since it opened in 2014. Fans including Anne Hathaway, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Kylie Minogue have all been through its oak doors for Valentino book launches and Netflix premiere lunches.
Inside, everything is done beautifully. Today, I’m met by a spotless red and gold Christmas tree under the lofty, vaulted ceiling. Turn left, and you discover row upon row of artfully chic publications, perfectly placed statues, and a cocktail bar. It’s square and the walls glow lacquer red so it feels (excuse the cliché) quite jewel boxy. But what treasures are to be found? James Lachica-Duncan, its director of three-and-half years, is on hand.
Not just a bookshop
This isn’t just a helpful spot for those looking for gifts for people who have everything this festive period. They can pop in, describe the gift recipient’s interests, and come away with a corker — correct? “We’re never
short of people who want to come in on this side,” Lachica-Duncan twitches, “but the understanding of Maison here is still that it’s a destination for culture. We don’t want people to think, ‘Well, I’m going there just to buy a book’.” He thinks it should be a destination, a place to while away an afternoon, where you can enjoy a glass of champagne, host an event (you can rent the bar for a £3,600 minimum spend, the whole ground floor and mezzanine for £7,000 or the building with the private room for £12,500) or, perhaps, get elbows deep and “redo your library”, he says. “It becomes more than just a little gift shop.”
Watching the one per cent browse the books is the most enjoyable pastime. This can be done comfortably from the Swans bar, which is the brainchild of French founders Martine and Prosper Assouline, nestled in the left-hand corner of the store. It’s no cheap boozer — snacks including cheese boards, £23, and foie gras on Poilâne toast, £28, can be washed down with a Swans pisco sour and burnt mandarin negroni, both £20 — but the setting is suitably smart, usually serene, and open late.
The walls of Swans — named after Truman Capote’s metaphor for society starlets; effortless on top, legs flapping wildly underwater — are bedecked with frames of history’s most decadent: Capote at the Black and White Ball, Gloria Vanderbilt, Maria Callas, Princess Margaret, Brigitte Bardot. “When you’re sitting here, you’re among friends,” says Lachica-Duncan.
But also, a bookshop
“Unlike some of our competitors like Taschen or Rizzoli, who do lots of different shapes and sizes, depending on the client’s needs,” Lachica-Duncan says, “what makes us famous and iconic as a brand is we actually only do four types of book.”
You’ll only find Assouline’s own in here. They start with the smaller Icons range, followed by the best-known Classics. This is where you have the travel series that lead to the “brand becoming more known”; you know, the pink and yellow one that reads Ibiza Bohemia, the beige Biarritz Basque or purple Amalfi Coast. At £85, these are easy interior status symbolisers. When you see one in the lobby of a new hotel on holiday, you exhale gently and know it’s all going to be okay.
They now also sell candles to go with the books. Scents aren’t new: “We used to be famous when we launched in 1994 for creating a scent called cocaine for a candle,” he says. “It’s a nice little nod to that, but we can’t seem to get a producer for the cocaine candle any more.”
Watching the one per cent browse is the most enjoyable pastime
Then come the Legends: bigger, in a slip case. “We do tend to vary the size of Legends. That’s the only one that we will change the size of,” says Lachica-Duncan. Then the Ultimate range, which are honking great, megalith-scale books of beauty. They get extra-special treatment: their own area, viewing stations, white gloves for previews. “They’re to be treated like a piece of art.”
Best-selling globally is the Formula 1 book, which has a cover made of Pirelli tyres “so it smells authentic” and costs upwards of a grand. My favourite is the Fernando Botero one, though, full of the Colombian artist’s gorgeous, glowing fat figures. “This was launched a few years ago, but never did that well,” he says. “He passed away last year and, obviously, we got a resurgence, which was not nice for him — but very nice for us.” I could have spent all morning flicking through it. With gloves, of course.
196A Piccadilly, W1J 9EY, eu.assouline.com
