One cannot talk about the international book publishing scene showcasing contemporary culture without mentioning gestalten—you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the creative industry whose home library doesn’t include at least one volume from the renowned publishing house. Founded not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall, gestalten provides inspiration to a wide range of people with over 600 published books. But how can a publishing house stay successful in the 21th century? We had the chance to peek into the everyday life of gestalten at the publisher’s headquarters under Mariannenstraße 9-10, Berlin.
‘Inspiring. Creative. Life.’—the words welcome you as a memento on the wall of the gestalten office, accompanied by photographs depicting the buildings designed by Spanish-Catalan postmodern architect, Ricardo Bofill. The message might seem trivial at first, still, it perfectly encompasses the publishing house’s credo. gestalten’s narrative goes beyond the media of texts and books, inspiring readers to create a meaningful lifestyle and connect with their surrounding creative landscape. We talked to founder and CEO Robert Klanten about the story of gestalten, digital culture, ever-changing trends and what’s needed to create a good book.
How did the story of gestalten start?
I studied industrial design, therefore I’ve always been interested in culture, design, music and art. During my university years, one of my colleagues and I were asked to create prototype design exhibitions for a consumer fair. That was the time we got to know several creators who had very different views on what design means. This was also the time when the first computers hit the market—providing a breath of fresh air and empowerment for creatives to create outside of the confines of working for a company. Since we felt that creativity was scattered around in the nooks of Europe, we decided to dedicate a book to the people we’d met at the time. I don’t remember exactly how—in the mail, through email or some other way—, but everyone sent their contribution to the book. We’ve never dreamt of becoming a publishing house, we simply wanted to get this one book done, but somehow, it became popular. It was interesting to see how it got the attention of agencies, businesses and all kinds of brands—it made it clear that there’s a silver lining, this is something we want to give our full dedication to.
Do you consider publishing books more a business or a cultural mission?
It’s hard to differentiate between the two. When you spend a lot of time with something, it becomes a part of you: your business becomes the reflection of your personal interests. In a way, I try to view my work as a business, but still, I’m aware how special this company is, how it interacts with so many people, inspiring them.
Living in a digital world makes books carry value as physical objects, putting more emphasis not only on content, but visuality and craftsmanship as well. What gives a book the essence of gestalten?
Originally, the publishing house was named Die Gestalten, a play on words in German meaning both ‘design’ and ‘shape’. However, this is a noun, and what we’d like to convey is more dynamic, a verb. For me, ‘gestalten’ is one of the most beautiful words in German, which means to give form to something, to create. Not a passive verb, but a deliberate action. Whether it’s about fashion, art, design or architecture, we’d like to inspire our readers and show them content that’s worth exploring and also demonstrate that they are capable of creation. This is the message we'd like to communicate both in the design and the texts of our books. That’s why we’re publishing in English, as this is the language in which we can engage the largest number of people. This is our mission!
When Kindle was launched in 2007, the publishing scene switched into panic mode due to the prediction of ebooks overtaking their printed counterparts, however this prediction now seems to have been false. What’s more, the post-pandemic years were the biggest years of print book sales in the last decade.
When I started making books, people kept asking why I’m not doing CDs. Book publishing is not a lead ball swinging left to right, turning suddenly from analogue to digital. This isn’t how it works. It’s like in physics: for every force, there’s a counter-force, which is sometimes obvious, sometimes less so. While in some aspects of our lives we opt for the ease of digital formats, they don’t help much in figuring out who we really are. As opposed to Instagram or other online digital platforms, books can provide a different perspective to readers on how to identify with a certain topic. Essentially, a book is a materialised idea, somewhat coded in human nature. Let’s take vinyl records as an example. Today, most people listen to music on Spotify, and that doesn’t require any effort. Thirty to fifty years ago, one had to journey to a downtown record store, take a deep dive into the genre’s subculture and lyrics while adding something new to their vinyl collections. This process helped people understand what they really liked. People try to make up for this feeling by attending concerts or even start buying records again. While many industries moving to the digital sphere can have some positives to it, it also makes the majority of our culture generic. In this setting, books provide an opportunity to move beyond meaningless, generic content.
In what ways is gestalten open to new digital solutions?
In around 2006, before YouTube became a hit, we made video content about various creatives. We thought this to be a great method to communicate our thoughts and connect with our audience. We strive to stay true to our brand: be an extension of experiences and not something that simply provides revenue for us. That’s what we’re working for, to offer solutions and products to our readers that they find as useful as our books. This is the path we want to tread on, but it’s not always easy.
Trends are constantly coming and going: whether we’re talking about architecture or design, a lot has changed in the last three decades. How do you choose a topic at gestalten, and how can you measure the success of a book?
When thinking about a publication, we always keep in mind that it needs to work for at least the next two to four years. This means that this is the time period that we expect the book to be actively sellable. The success of a book, from a business point-of-view, is evident if we need to reprint it. As for choosing a topic, intuition is key, but I’d rather say that behind the final decision, it’s 90% thorough research and 10% intuition and talent. We’re constantly paying attention to the phenomenas happening around us. I believe that creativity is a reaction to the changes in society and technology, while at the same time, creativity is what keeps technology and society in motion, creating a certain interrelation between the two. We also examine various topics and subcultures that, for some reason, could become relevant once again. However, not every trend is destined to become a book. In a sense, the answer to your question might not be what topics we work with, but which are the ones we decide we don't want to bring to life...
Photos: Dániel Gaál
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