Angelika Taschen is a renowned lifestyle and design expert with a passion for books. The roots of her interest in books date back to the year 1872, when her great-great-grandfather Hermann Behrendt set up a shop selling books and art in Bonn. Five generations later, the business is still family-owned. Angelika has books in her genes.
As a child Angelika trained in classical ballet, but was unable to fulfill her dreamof dancing in Swan Lake because she’d grown too tall. Instead she danced in two musical productions. Then she changed course, studying art history and German literature in Heidelberg, Germany’s oldest university, gaining her PhD in 1986.
She worked for 23 years (1987-2010) for and with Benedikt Taschen, her ex-husband, building together the internationally acclaimed Taschen publishing house. During this time, Angelika herself published herself more than 150 books on art, architecture, design, interiors, travel and lifestyle.
She is most known for her interior and travel books and was named “the mother of all coffee table books“ in 1994 by The Indian Times.
Angelika began travelling at a very early age and is now acknowledged worldwide as a travel and lifestyle expert, writing for magazines such as German Harper’s Bazaar, Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin and the art magazine Monopol. She was named ‘lifestyle Popess’ by the Zuericher Sonntagszeitung in 2004.
In 2011 she founded her own boutique publishing house Angelika Books where she produces only very few titles in small print runs.
At the moment she is researching and supporting several projects that evaluate the quality of handmade, traditional goods.
“I feel very blessed that I can focus almost entirely on art, architecture, design, photography and literature in my life. I feel very rich.“