Gestalten Reimagines the Coffee Table Book

I’ve always had a deep love for a coffee table book. You would know that instantly if you saw my bookshelves! I have spent years collecting and filling a library with beautiful books about travel, design, interiors, and artisans — all of my favorite things. There’s just something about sitting down and flipping through the pages of an actual book. I was so excited when I launched Interior Monologue’s shop that I was able to stock Gestalten, a brand that is dedicated to creating a publishing world that can engage in conversation while providing beautiful aesthetics. I’ve always loved supporting book reading in the digital world we live in nowadays.

Gestalten has become an institution in Berlin as a publishing and creative agency. They were founded in 1995 and have since published more than 500 books highlighting and anticipating vital movements in design, architecture, typography, and art.

They publish books like The New Traditional that allows you to delve deeper into the world of appreciating craftsmanship, heritage, and local identity by learning about the history and people keeping these practices alive — something I can very much get behind! The book tells stories of craftsmen themselves that devote their lives to these special skills. By learning about the ethical and cherished ways of everything from weaving to tending sheep, you can deeper appreciate the ideology of handmade and ethical production.

Amongst their other dreamy books are titles like Insiders & Company and Scandinavia Dreaming — each chock full of beautiful images and information on artisans. The projects within Scandinavia Dreaming explore the effortless combination of classical restraint and warm materials through anecdotes of those who live in them and exist in the creative community. Insiders & Company presents the new artisans of interior design; those who aim to embrace traditional processes and merge them with modern materials to redefine the standard of modern interior design.

Gestalten aims to reimage the publishing world — a world where they can engage in creative conversations and landscapes through their extensive range of titles. While their original story was founded with a focus on aesthetics, they seek to enhance the reader’s lives. They were particularly focused on graphic design in the beginning, but through the past two decades, their focus on content has shifted.

Through fashion, design, food, travel, contemporary art, and architecture, they publish books that can act as inspirational informants. The myriad of topics they now cover is real-time observations on people, art, and culture. They aim to reach beyond the scope of a beautiful coffee table book — they also want to enrich, inform, and inspire.

If you’re looking for a no-fail gift idea, buy a coffee table book. It’s something you can keep forever and with a book this stylish, you’ll want to have it forever displayed on your bookshelf or coffee table. They make great gifts — both for yourself or a loved one.