Assouline, heading for lifestyle

Can a publishing house become a luxury lifestyle brand without betraying itself? That’s the question raised by Assouline’s new direction. Known for its elegant books, the French house is taking a bold step forward in April 2025 with The Library Collection, a line of objects inspired by its editorial universe.

An assertive sensory shift

With The Library Collection, Assouline offers ink-scented candles, sculptural bookends and leather writing desks. These pieces extend the reading experience into a sensory and decorative realm, evoking a discreet but deeply embodied luxury. More than a change in offering, it’s an aesthetic manifesto: making culture a space to live in.

A successful transplant of Parisian DNA

Founded in Paris in 1994, Assouline is rooted in a tradition of French editorial luxury. This new lifestyle élan, imagined with designer Pierre Favresse, does not deviate from this essence. It extends it. In France, where the value of transmission and functional beauty are part of the cultural landscape, this collection finds an obvious echo. It responds to current trends: the return to the object, the quest for intellectual and intimate luxury, the rise of decorative bibliophily.

The challenge of “cultural luxury

This shift towards the object is not an isolated one. At a time when Hermès or Dior are investing in art and publishing, Assouline is doing the opposite: moving from books to space. The positioning is subtle, but pertinent. In a French-speaking market sensitive to symbolic value, this collection embodies a strategic response to the need for a slower, more embodied, tactile luxury.

Between book and lifestyle, a balance to watch

Assouline’s transformation is as intriguing as it is fascinating. While the risk of brand dilution is real, The Library Collection so far seems to have succeeded in combining beauty, meaning and desirability. For those who love reading as much as decorating, this collection is a new territory to explore.

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