Last week, during a dinner, someone flipped through Chanel: The Impossible Collection on my coffee table. Silk binding, barely read beyond page twenty.
“Do you actually read it?”
No. Or rather — I “read” it differently, every day.
I read it when I walk into the living room and it reminds me that beauty has value.
I read it when guests flip through it and conversations about style, craftsmanship, and legacy emerge.
I read it when it becomes the spark for a dialogue that would otherwise take twenty minutes of small talk to begin.
Welcome to the world of coffee table books — where the line between reading and decorating disappears, books become sculpture, and collecting culture becomes a statement.

An industry growing against all logic

In 2025, while digital dominates reading habits, coffee table books are more desirable than ever.
The paradox is the point.
The global market shows steady growth, driven by millennials (aged 28–43) — the fastest-growing segment — who use these volumes as tools for personal branding and visual identity. The fashion and beauty industries have fully embraced this platform: presenting products through museum-quality photography generates immense opportunity.
North America holds the dominant market share. A revealing fact: on Amazon, many best-selling “coffee table books” are fake decorative books — objects that exist only to be seen. A perfect reflection of their double nature.
The contradiction works: precisely because everything is digital, beautiful physical objects gain exponential value.

The three giants setting the rules

ASSOULINE — “The First Luxury Brand on Culture”
Founded in 1994, with over 300 titles on Chanel, Dior, Mykonos, and Capri. In 2013, LVMH acquired a stake, officially elevating coffee table books to luxury goods — on par with a Birkin bag. Their volumes are even counterfeited on Amazon.
They run boutiques in Palm Beach, Marrakech, Hong Kong, and the famous Swans Bar inside their London bookstore.
Museum-grade paper, handcrafted bindings, and bold layouts define their unmistakable style.

TASCHEN — When Books Become Art
Founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen, the publisher revolutionized the market with the SUMO series (1999): books the size of children, as heavy as a microwave, costing thousands of euros.
Titles like The Star Wars Archives and The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries have become icons.
Their approach? Radical curation. Only extraordinary projects make it through.

RIZZOLI — Editorial Excellence Since 1974
Based in New York, Rizzoli collaborates with the world’s top photographers and designers.
Notable titles include 100 Posters That Changed the World and Alain Ducasse’s New York.
Uniquely among the major players, Rizzoli still accepts unsolicited manuscripts via literary agents.
Other key names: Phaidon Press (est. 1923, 1,500+ titles), Thames & Hudson, and new players like Broccoli (profit-sharing models for artists) or D’Oro Collection, which publishes hand-gilded volumes featuring real gold leaf on the covers and inside the pages.

Who buys culture — and why

• Cultural Millennials: Books as personal identity and social sharing
• Interior Design Enthusiasts: Completing “the look,” mindful of palette and proportion
• Creative Professionals: Inspiration and tax-deductible investment
• Status Collectors: Limited editions as cultural assets
• Luxury Companies: Branding tools for lobbies and showrooms
• Gift-Givers: Perfect gift — beautiful, tangible, and culturally relevant

Everyone is after three things: Visual Impact + Cultural Capital + Conversational Value.

The six market-defining themes

• Fashion & Luxury Brands (35%) — Chanel, Hermès, Dior. Owning an accessible fragment of luxury: if a Birkin costs €10,000, a Hermès book costs €200.
• Travel & Destinations (25%) — Ibiza, Mykonos, Amalfi. Visual wanderlust and high-end escapism.
• Art & Photography (20%) — Leibovitz, Slim Aarons, museum archives. Mini art collections for the living room.
• Interior Design (10%) — Iconic homes, materials, craftsmanship. Design has become mainstream content.
• Food & Wine (5%) — Star chefs, wine regions. A loyal niche and corporate gifting classic.
• Niche & Specialized (5%) — Sneaker culture, rare birds, automotive icons. High margins and passionate collectors.

2025 Trend: Licensing deals with pop icons — Barbie now stars in two new coffee table books (Assouline and Rizzoli).

The guide: how to choose without failing

1. Start with Genuine Interest
   Designer Timothy Godbold says, “People really do read them — a mix of topics keeps them alive.”
2. Coordinate Your Color Palette
   Covers should harmonize with the room’s palette. Pro tip: removing dust jackets often reveals elegant linen textures.
3. Vary Dimensions
   Large on the bottom, smaller on top. Two or three books are ideal; more looks cluttered.
4. Quality Over Quantity
   Three extraordinary books beat ten mediocre ones.
5. Function vs. Form
   Will it stay open or closed? Be a base for décor objects? Consider its real use.
6. Authenticity or Aesthetic?
   With fake “faux books” trending on Amazon, decide consciously: real book or decorative prop?
7. Match the Table Shape
   Rectangle: four separate stacks. Round: triangular layout. Square: central symmetry.

The decorative (and social) power

London stylist Emily Keane says:
“They add intellectual and visual layers. They ground a space and tell who lives there.”
Decorative roles:
They add height and dimension, introduce texture (fabric, glossy/matte, gold leaf), anchor color schemes, balance proportions, and create visual focal points.
But their true power is social.
The coffee table is the home’s most public gallery.
When a guest arrives, the first few seconds matter. Silence, then a glance — searching for conversation.
The coffee table book solves that moment.
“Ah, Slim Aarons!”
“You’ve been to Mykonos?”
“Japanese architecture fascinates you?”
Instant, organic dialogue.
It’s identity curation through tangible objects.
In an age of digital overload, that has tremendous weight.
As PAD Magazine notes:
“Limited editions and signed copies act as subliminal social cues — signaling that you collect culture, not just consume it.”

The productive contradiction

Are coffee table books meant to be read or just admired?
Both. And neither.
They are hybrid objects that defy categorization — not fully functional (few read them cover to cover), not purely decorative (the best hold extraordinary content).
They live where aesthetics meets substance — where objects become symbols.
The 2025 market thrives because these books resolve a modern tension: we crave physical beauty in a digital world, but objects must earn their place.
They must be beautiful.
They must mean something.
They must create social value.
Coffee table books do all this — they are investments in tangible beauty, archives of inspiration, tools for connection, statements of identity.
And yes, occasionally, books we actually read.
Prosper Assouline compares his publishing house to a three-star restaurant:
“The work is the same as on day one.”
They don’t sell information (Google gives that away). They sell experience — the weight of a book in your hands, the texture of paper, the joy of a page that takes your breath away.
In a dematerialized world, the coffee table book remains stubbornly, gloriously physical.
And in that lies its enduring power.