A luxury publishing co-founder on why a physical book beats fast information every time.
Martine Assouline co-founded Assouline in 1994 with her husband Prosper, starting the house from the basement of their Paris apartment with a first book on La Colombe d'Or, the hotel in the South of France they treated as a second home. Thirty years later, Assouline publishes across seven countries, holds the only trunk partnership Goyard has ever created with an outside brand, and counts Roger Federer among the subjects who trusted the house with his visual biography. Their son Alexandre now runs the company as president.
In this episode, Martine walks through how an Assouline book actually gets made, from a title on surrealism she had to kill over copyright costs to the discipline she calls "eating culture." She talks taste, AI, succession, craftsmanship, and what luxury will mean by the time water becomes the real currency.
Beyond Luxury brings together the founders, executives and cultural voices shaping the future of luxury, exploring brand innovation, consumer behavior, craftsmanship and where the luxury industry is headed next.
00:03:48 How images, not text, built Assouline's entire style
00:06:22 The book that started in a basement: La Colombe d'Or
00:14:56 Making the Roger Federer book
00:19:23 The surrealism book she had to kill over copyright costs
00:21:07 Why she calls ChatGPT and Google easy fast food
00:25:48 Why she tells her team to eat culture
00:32:28 Bergdorf Goodman's gift floor and Goyard's first-ever partnership
00:48:52 What is luxury? Her answer from a Rochas interview forty years ago
00:55:28 Three words for the luxury industry today
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