Not only are coffee table books a great gift-to-self, but they’re also the perfect gift for anyone who might like to update their home or awaken their curiosity for fashion/beauty/culture.
Think: the dreamiest of housewarming gifts for your friend who has just switched pads.
If it’s interiors inspo you’re after, there are a number of interior coffee table books worthy of a spot in your collection. Take The White Company, For the Love of White, for example. The founder of The White Company, Chrissie Rucker, takes us inside her three homes and inspires us with her minimalist aesthetic.
The past four months have got us lusting over interiors like never before. From our budding relationship with our house plants (no pun intended) to our eagerly growing collection of scented candles, we’re spending just as much money on small home improvements as we are heatwave-appropriate summer dresses.
One way to elevate your home interiors without the need to knock down walls/pick up a paintbrush is with a collection of the best coffee table books. Created to give insight into the lives of the subjects and covering everything from fashion to photography; home styling to popular culture, the best coffee table books are meaningful, inspirational and there to make a statement. This is in stark contrast to their wordier counterparts – read: the novels which, despite your best intentions, gather dust on bookshelf as you binge on Selling Sunset.
There are also many travel-themed coffee table books out there, to awaken the senses and spark wanderlust – important/perhaps slightly painful when foreign travel is tricky. Palm Beach by Aerin Lauder is one for avid travellers and perhaps our favourite coffee table book of them all. It’s packed with striking illustrations of the glamorous American holiday destination, from the restaurants to the hotels and boutiques that have been enjoyed for generations.
Popular culture fans should make a beeline for Rihanna’s book with Phaidon, or Kim Kardashian’s famed and updated collection of selfies. Yep, it exists. Fashion aficionados will love to drool over the images inside Dior Catwalk: The Complete Collections and Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott (Taschen Collectors Edition). And to support the work of black creatives, add The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion to your collection pronto.
The world of coffee table books is a vast and (at times) overwhelming one, so we’ve decided to bring you an edit of the very best coffee table books – worthy of a spot in any well-appointed home. We’ll await the snap on Instagram.
