This creative and perfectionist thirty-year-old who is bubbling with ideas is gradually making his mark within the publishing house created by his parents more than thirty years ago. A look back at an exceptional family success story.
It is a dove, not perched on a quiet roof, but nestled in a small village in the South which gave birth to one of the greatest editorial successes of recent decades. Martine and Prosper Assouline have always loved the Colombe d’Or, the charming hotel in Saint-Paul-de-Vence celebrated by painters and poets. Exactly thirty years ago, they brought back from this cocoon a harvest of photos to the point of regretting not sharing them with as many people as possible. A self-published book dedicated to the Colombe d’Or was published.
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The first stone of a building counting today… three thousand, with the same printer since the first day. Behind the success of this inseparable tandem, one constant: to surprise, to dazzle, to excite. The catalog covers just about the entire spectrum of glamour, beauty and success, from Frida Kahlo to the Ferrari legend, from Jay-Z to Francis Bacon, from Barbie to Maria Callas…
As if Éditions Assouline had made art, entertainment and luxury within sight and reach. The text plays its part there in the same way as the image, as evidenced by the recent presence of “feathers” as coveted as those of Simon Liberati (for St Tropez Soleil) and Frédéric Beigbeder (for Biarritz Basque). Around a hundred employees in New York where the base camp is established, around fifteen in Paris, Assouline Editions publish most of their works in English, which allows them maximum exposure in bookstores abroad.
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It is precisely from New York that Alexandre Assouline, the presumed “dauphin” of the house, officiates. White shirt, beige pants with pleats, this dark-haired thirty-year-old hides behind the polite appearance of a young man from a good family an armored determination. After a detour through consulting and strategy firms, he returned home around ten years ago to take care of the “business” side, even if he wants to remind people who is in charge: “Prosper, my father, has a very good vision of what he wants. I am here to take hold of it, act on it and work on the development of what constitutes a luxury brand.”
Alexandre Assouline began to develop his ranges by working for a time at the printer, practicing for a few years as a graphic designer, before subsequently tackling the digital and marketing professions. “AA” grew up surrounded by books, but far from disgusting him, as can happen, this world of paper gave him a certainty: “In my opinion, a book is something you can’t not love. Browsing for the beauty of the object, reading to learn are two things that I have loved doing since my childhood. My parents have always been eager for culture, it’s no coincidence that they work on a hundred books a year. You cannot have such a bulimia of bookish creation without an absolute love of books.”
As a child, when he was not at school, Alexandre had only one passion: watching his parents work among contact sheets and texts. He will have seen many artists and personalities pass through the house. One of his fondest memories remains the visit of “King Pelé” to the family home, a visit punctuated by a few improvised dribbles in the corridor with the Brazilian football icon… Another strong memory, once an adult, the exchange in Capri with Valentino during the preparation of the book dedicated to the designer. “I remember us sitting on the terrace of a café with our computers to discuss the choice of cover. Éditions Assouline is the opposite of a cold society, ours is above all based on human contact. I experienced intense moments for each book. This young man in a hurry and a perfectionist, married for a year (his wife works alongside him, reproducing the example of his parents), cherished a dream: to produce a beautiful book with the immense Roger Federer. Dream come true this month with the global launch of the book.
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Inspire, educate, amaze
Developing the brand in all directions is perhaps what Alexandre seems most passionate about: “We not only make beautiful books, we also treat them as luxury objects, and as a result, for years we have undertaken a multitude of variations around our works. We open several stores per year, six this year including two with pop-ups.” Singularities of the house: the launch of custom bookcases designed by the team, the development of new ranges of library scents and destinations, the sale of vintage objects gleaned from around the world… But also the opening of bars and restaurants inside stores such as the very successful Swans Bar in London. Soon followed – at the end of the year – by an identical concept store in Paris, rue Bonaparte, in a location adjoining the boutique created in 2006. What my interlocutor calls the Assouline’s Touch.
By the way, what does Alexandre do when he’s not working? He works. “I spend one day of the weekend at the office with my father.” And outside? Strolling around New York by bike, playing squash with his father. See his friends. What if he had to take an Assouline book to a desert island? It would be one of the next ones, called Paris by Paris, “because Paris is the other city of my heart that I have not visited, a city that captivates me, starting with the Palais-Royal, a place steeped in history where my parents own an apartment.
Parents who, in his words, taught him three things: the gift of curiosity, the taste for digging and the ability to understand. Alexandre finds the criticism sometimes made of the publishing house unfair, accusing it of one side coffee table book tinsel: “Our books are much more than decorative objects. By opening them, we discover a unique universe: a selection of images, a text written by specialized authors and an immersive experience, which transcends simple decoration. Above all, they are designed to inspire, educate and amaze.” A young man himself amazed by the house version of books around James Bond, his childhood hero, perhaps linked to a secret pride: Martine, his mother, played a James Bond Girl in Moonraker. Before leaving, one last question: what is the best advice we have given him? It comes from his father: “Anything can happen. When we want, we can. You shouldn’t let yourself get discouraged when something doesn’t go your way.”
His bedside book is called Wandering Souls, signed Cécile Pin. It tells the adventures of three Vietnamese orphans who flee the communist dictatorship on a makeshift boat to rebuild their lives in Great Britain. A story of trio and success, again and again.
