When it comes to nailing the perfect holiday gift, there are few that hit all the sweet spots like a beautiful coffee table book.
These oversized, hard-covered gems – some emblazoned in glossy avant-garde pictorials; others minimalist and ever-chic – can not only serve as bona-fide artworks on their own to enliven any interiors, but also thought-provoking conversation starters at dinner parties or stirring brainfood during a quiet moment at home.
With topics spanning a wide spectrum, the kind of coffee table books that a homeowner chooses to display reveals much about theirs interests and tastes – making these a much more personal and intellectual gift to surprise a loved one with. Here are three published this year that you will find hard to put down:
Cover image courtesy of Champalimaud Design.
For any bibliophile with a penchant for beautiful interiors, Kelly Wearstler’s fifth book – the famed American designer's first in a decade – Evocative Style, is an absolute must-read. The founder and principal of Kelly Wearstler design studio is known for creating luscious, highly textured and multi-layered environments, and she translates the same sensibility into this newly released volume that chronicles the evolution of her aesthetics and creative process in stunning photography.
Told using a storytelling approach with personal anecdotes, the volume showcases some of her most iconic works as well as offers a glimpse into her newly redesigned, 1926 Beverly Hills home originally built as a Spanish Colonial. The book is also available in an all-black limited edition.
Published by Rizzoli; available at kellywearstler.com
Hailed one of the most prolific interior designers, art curators and antiquaries ever lived, Belgian icon Axel Vervoordt is regarded as a pioneering force in bringing the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic – raw, stuccoed and characterfully timeworn interiors inspired by nature – to the West. His aesthetic can be seen in different parts of the globe, including the 18 residences spotlighted in this newly released 320-page book – from a New York City penthouse to a Tokyo abode and a Bordeaux wine château, as well as Vervoordts' own homes in Venice and Belgium. Each reveals the intricate alchemy between nature, art and architecture that Vervoordt masters so beautifully.
Published by Flammarion; available at axel-vervoordt.com
Marrying the worlds of art, architecture, food and book to delicious perfection is this playful and provocative cookbook by photographer and architectural historian Esther Choi, whose works have appeared in the likes of T: The New York Times Style Magazine and The Architect's Newspaper. Birthed out of dinner parties that she hosted, Esther was inspired to assemble a series of famous contemporary sculptures, paintings and architecture – using food. She photographs these 60 playful edible interpretations that she calls “social experiments about the elitism of cultural production”, including the likes of the Quiche Haring (ode to American artist Keith Haring) and the Rem Brûlée (inspired by architect Rem Koolhaas).
Published by Prestel; available at prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de
