What I Learned Walking Into a Taschen Store in London
- Ms. Mila Vasconcelos
- May 3
- 2 min read
What I Learned Walking Into a Taschen Store in London
Ms. Mila Vasconcelos/ Multicultural Experiences
I wasn’t expecting much when I walked into the Taschen store in London. I thought it would be another bookstore, maybe a bit more curated, maybe a bit more expensive. But the moment I stepped inside, something shifted. It didn’t feel like a bookstore. It felt like a gallery.
The space was quiet, intentional. Books were not stacked or crowded; they were displayed, almost like artworks themselves. And that’s when I realized that the intention of the store was about creating an experience beyond selling books.
I started picking them up, one by one.
Heavy. Solid. Carefully printed. The kind of book you don’t just flip through, you hold it with both hands. The paper, the color, the scale… everything demanded attention. As someone who works with visual arts and photography, I could immediately feel the difference. These books were translating images and bringing them back to life. And that matters more than we often admit.
We live in a time where images are fast, digital, and disposable. We scroll, we like, we move on. But standing there, holding those books, I was reminded that some images are meant to stay. To be experienced slowly. To take space.
That’s something Benedikt Taschen understood from the beginning: art doesn’t need to be locked behind institutions, but it also shouldn’t lose its presence. What impressed me the most was the quality and the clarity of identity. Every book felt like part of a larger vision. There was consistency in design, in typography, in layout. You could recognize the brand without even looking at the logo. And as someone building her own platform in arts and culture, that stayed with me.
It made me reflect on my own work.
My photography.
My future book projects.
My website.
Am I just sharing images… or am I creating an experience?
Because that’s the real difference.
A book can be informative. Or it can be unforgettable.
Walking out of that store, I felt inspired and challenged.
To think beyond content, about format, material, and presence.
To think about what it means to create something that people consume, appreciate it and keep.
Maybe that’s what I’m really working towards without fully realizing it yet.
Not just documenting places, cultures, and people. But creating objects and experiences that hold those stories with the respect they deserve.
Ms. Mila Vasconcelos
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