Gestalten is Quattro’s favourite book publisher. They have been vastly exploring visual culture since 1995. Because of this, Gestalten are our favourite inspirational books to cozy up with. Gestalten has actively reimagined the world of publishing and continues to do so. With their broad range of titles, they seek to enhance and enrich the lives of their readers. While simultaneously engaging constantly with the ever-changing surrounding creative landscape.

Gestalten began with a focus on the aesthetic, particularly within graphic design. Since their beginning over 25 years ago, the breadth of their content and expertise has widened. Today, they draw their inspiration from the world around us. While surveilling art, culture, people, small details and big events, they anticipate change. Changes within architecture, design, fashion, travel, escapism, visual culture, food & beverages and modern art.

Gestalten hopes to inspire people regardless of the medium. With the focus on creative culture and the main aim being mutual inspiration.

Why are Gestalten’s inspirational books Quattro’s favourite to cozy up with?

We are always looking to books for inspiration, this is probably a hangover from back in the day before the www…. So over the years, we have collected many! Over the last 6 or 7 years, in particular, Gestalten have stood out to us with titles that are very strong in Architectural and Interior Design content. This has tended to lead us in their direction.

From the point of view of using the books for design or styling projects, they are perfect! Beautifully printed, great size and good content for our current location of the Swiss Alps. And, from a pure design point of view – the books are beautiful! Stunning visuals and nice thick matt paper make the books a pleasure to read cuddled up on your sofa at night with a nice glass of red.

Does Quattro have any favourite books?

Our current favourites are ‘The Chamber of Curiosity’. I have had this book in my personal collection since it was first released in 2014 and it has provided me with many hours of enjoyment since. It is an eclectic collection of some of the best and quirkiest apartment interiors around the world. This book shows that a home should be a showcase of someone’s life and experiences rather than how expensive your furniture is. Each one of the spaces in the book is a pure reflection of the personality of the owner.

The other would have to be ‘Hide & Seek’. This is a book that lets you escape from what is sometimes a complicated and cluttered lifestyle, to the pure simplicity of escaping the urban environment. Always a dream to have a small plot of land somewhere hidden away in the forest, this allows us to maintain the inspiration for that.

What are Gestalten’s Sustainability practices?

Gestalten is committed to high-value, low-impact products. From the materials they choose to use to their prefered methods of transportation. These steps have always been taken to reduce their ecological footprint:

• Carefully selected suppliers. Production is solely in Europe to limit transport emissions and ensure fair working conditions.
• FSC™️ (Forest Stewardship Council™️) certified paper. Which is the only wood certification scheme endorsed by WWF, Greenpeace, and the Woodland Trust. This also safeguards forest biodiversity and local communities.
• They comply with California Proposition 65.
• Part of LKG’s initiative to support ‘Plant-for-the-Planet’ to compensate for packaging and produce small print runs to reduce the risk of destroying unsold books.
• Formats maximize the efficient use of paper and reduce consumption.

Gestalten plant one tree for each book sold in collaboration with Tree Nation. These are the reason’s that we choose Gestalten as our favourite inspirational books to cozy up with. We hope to pass on their ethos of mutual inspiration.

Author – Teri-Anne of An Aimless Walk