Welcome to so books
Custom book makers & creators of luxury coffee table books
SO books teams us with our long standing colleagues at Anew in a shared passion for all things luxury, including custom coffee table books. This venture broadens our existing book design service enabling us to offer seamless end-to-end book making services. From initial strategy, research and content creation right through to book design, printing, packaging and fulfilment.
We have over 25 years’ experience working with global luxury brands across a wonderfully diverse range of market sectors. From art galleries, museums, architecture, property and interiors through to jewellery, B2B professional services, private investors and private family businesses including royalty.
Commissioning a bespoke coffee table book is the perfect opportunity for luxury brands to present valuable insights about their inspirations, achievements and legacy. And the perfect platform to display a brand’s personality, brand value and beliefs in an unforgettable format.
Typically large format and visually arresting, the ‘high art’ aesthetic and evocative vocabulary in a coffee table book is a powerful addition to any luxury brand’s marketing toolbox and a well crafted custom book can be an extremely valuable communications tool.
A custom made coffee table book possesses many qualities that luxury brand audiences desire
With their extravagant formats, evocative visuals and high-end production values, custom coffee table books are a rich celebration of luxury craftsmanship. Their physicality and weight leaves an everlasting impression and forges deeper emotional connections – the ideal showcase for a luxury brand to tell their story.
Whether you want to celebrate your brand’s success, honour your heritage or express your brand as an authority, commissioning a professional book maker to create a custom coffee table book for your luxury brand can deliver brand presence like no other.
Custom book makers – our difference
Every client is unique and every project bespoke and the coffee table books we create are uniquely tailored to suit each individual brief. Custom books and bespoke book boxes can be any size or format and we can construct book boxes from any material, whether that be cardboard, wood, metal, glass, acrylic or resin. Previous projects have even included the use of 5000 year old fossilised black oak, shagreen, mother of pearl, real gold and even stone.
Although we love the tactility of a beautiful custom book, we are also great enthusiasts of emerging technologies. Augmented reality (AR) offers the best of both worlds – bridging the physical and digital world to create a spell-binding coffee table book that comes to life with animation and sound.
We can print books lithographically or digitally and all book printing and box making is undertaken in the UK. Books can be bound using a traditional thread-sewn binding technique or the more contemporary lay-flat binding. Lay-flat binding is increasingly popular, particularly with luxury brands, and enables pages to lay completely flat allowing for uninterrupted, full bleed imagery across the spine.
Our book making skill set spans concept creation, copywriting, art direction and design, translation services, image making including photography and retouching, book printing, box making, project management and fulfilment.
Translation & copywriting for coffee table books
Our copywriting service for custom books is as refined and polished as one would expect in a luxury coffee table book, not only in English, but in any other language. Working with our trusted translation partners we have transcreated books in a number of international languages including Chinese Mandarin, Arabic and French Quebecois.
Sustainable book printing & production
Our paper and material suppliers are at the forefront of new technologies and share our interest in sustainability. From book binding cloth made purely from recycled waste ocean plastic through to vegan mushroom leather, we are always on the look out for innovative and sustainable book binding materials and papers which do not compromise the quality of the luxurious books that we make.
For a truly sustainable custom book solution we can also print books in a zero-emissions printing factory where all waste is contained at source with waste liquid upcycled on the premises.