Masks by Thierry Despont, Large Art Book, United States, 2007

Assouline Publishing has made the coffee-table book cool again. The revolutionary company is best known for sumptuously illustrated books on fashion, art, travel and photography. Its exquisite hardcover volumes are beautiful to look at and are of impeccable editorial quality.

Assouline Publishing was established in 1994 by Prosper and Martine Assouline. The family company quickly outgrew its modest initial office, which was located in the basement of what was then the couple’s apartment, and the pair eventually opened a proper office on rue Danielle Casanova in the French capital city. Assouline’s initial offerings focused on designers, artists and fashion houses, with books about Azzedine Alaïa, Dior and Chanel captivating readers in the publisher’s early days. These books have sold millions of copies all over the world.

Owing to the decline of print media, luxury companies found in Assouline a venue to help showcase their products and adequately position their branding in front of consumers. From its earliest days, Assouline has published opulent hardcovers that broke the mold, from illustrated tomes celebrating fashion legends and high-society doyens to hand-bound limited-edition art monographs with Italian linen covers.

Highly anticipated Assouline titles, such as Yves Saint Laurent: The Impossible Collection, Chinese Art: The Impossible Collection and Art Deco Style, are published with consistency every year.

While books remain at the forefront of Assouline, the publishing house has also expanded into producing alluring decorative objects and furnishings for the home.

Today, Alex Assouline, the son of Prosper and Martine, heads Assouline Publishing. Under his guidance, the brand developed a lucrative new branch that is focused on curating private libraries for homes, offices, hotels and other commercial properties.

On 1stDibs, find collectible Assouline books and other items today.

Born in France, Thierry Despont studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and earned a Master’s in Urban Design from Harvard. After founding his architectural firm in 1980, he built a prestigious reputation, working on landmark projects such as the Statue of Liberty’s Centennial Restoration, the J. Paul Getty Museum’s Decorative Arts Galleries, and high-end hotels like the Carlyle in New York and Claridge’s in London. His many high profile clients included the likes of Bill Gates and Calvin Klein.

While best known for these projects, Despont was a no less accomplished visual artist. His enthusiasms were myriad, and his work focused on an almost incredible range of subjects, including but not limited to entymology, ichthyology, anthopology, history, and astronomy. The very smallest of earth's creatures, like insects, captivated him no less than the universe’s very largest—planetary bodies and the cosmos. All of his work was informed by an unrivaled art-historical expertise, lead by a wholly unique imagination, and driven by an omniverous curiousity for life and the very nature of existence.

A Knight of the French Legion of Honor and an Interior Design Hall of Fame inductee, Despont also authored design books. He exhibited his paintings and sculptures globally, notably at the Marlborough Gallery in New York, London, and Monaco.