.jpg)
Back in 2020, during the height of the pandemic—at a time when most of us were more likely to be binge-watching The Real Housewives or trying (and failing) to master the art of sourdough—Isabella Burley launched a business. As the chief marketing officer of Acne Studios and the former editor-in-chief of Dazed, Burley had spent much of her career traveling the world for fashion shows and shoots, and used every spare minute in the cities she was visiting to trawl through bookstores to build her collection of art and photography monographs, vintage erotica, VHS tapes, and rare pieces of print ephemera from across every creative discipline. But it was only the time afforded to her by lockdown that allowed her to fully realize her vision of her own independent rare book dealership and store: Climax Books.
With its hot pink packaging, minimalist typography, and meticulously curated selection of items that reflect Burley’s own, highly defined tastes, Climax was an immediate hit. Over the past four years, the store has amassed 25,000 followers on Instagram; collaborated with the likes of Heaven by Marc Jacobs and Dover Street Market; and following a successful pop-up at the Sadie Coles Gallery in London, eventually moved into a permanent space last year in London’s Soho district. Now, Burley is launching her most ambitious outing yet: a new store on New York’s East 4th Street, just around the corner from the Bowery Hotel.
“I think the book culture in New York is just unparalleled,” Burley says over FaceTime from the store in the days before its opening, reeling off a list of her favorite cult bookstores in the city. “I think there’s such a deep respect for booksellers and literary culture, and such an appetite for it. Being able to be part of that is such an honor.” (She even recalls her first visit to New York as a teenager, spending “six or seven hours” in the Strand Bookstore and slowly filling up a trolley with her most exciting discoveries.) Today, the store finally opens—and just in time for the chaos of New York Fashion Week. “I think it feels like a space that invites different collaborators to come in, as is such a strong representation of the world that we’re building,” Burley adds.
After signing the lease earlier this year, the first challenge for Burley was to figure out how she would take the already fully-formed aesthetic world of Climax into the three dimensions of a store—though it was a challenge she welcomed. (While the London outpost also functions as the Climax head office, lending it a more laid-back, conversational atmosphere, Burley was keen for the New York outpost to feel like a proper flagship.) “I have such a clear idea of the visual identity and the point of view of Climax, but then it’s like, how do you translate that to a store experience that feels like really elevated and curated—but also not intimidating and that people feel welcomed and we can foster a community?” Burley asks.
First, she came up with the idea of “pretty perverse”—also, coincidentally, a chapter title in a Simone Rocha coffee table book Burley recently edited for Rizzoli—and channeled it into a space that would feel elevated, but gently subversive, with stainless steels and mirrors offset by chainmail details and shopping bags made from latex for a kinkier touch. Located in a basement room, it was important for Burley and the designer of the space, Kat Milne, to maximize the natural light that floods in on a sunny day—but they were also keen to bring in a touch of that signature hot pink. “How do we bring that [color] into the space without it feeling too feminine?” she remembers. They placed sheets of pale pink vinyl across the window, casting a soft, hazy light and somewhat obscuring the space to create a level of intrigue, while also nodding to the covered windows of sex shops. “It was definitely playing with that,” Burley adds. “I feel like some sex stores are intimidating to go inside or they might make you kind of nervous. It was about trying to take that away so it feels welcoming for people, but still pique their curiosity to enter as well.”
Given that Climax was initially conceived as a digital project, what does Burley see as the difference between her online offering versus its new—and rapidly growing—bricks-and-mortar presence? “I love the idea of them both coexisting: we spent so much time on the design and the visual language of the website and the way that we photographed each book or piece of ephemera as a kind of cultural artifact,” she says, noting that the website also serves as a sort of repository or archive for the rare books and objects that have passed through Burley’s hands. The most validating parts of opening a physical store, she explains, are the conversations and sense of community it builds with those who come to visit. “When it’s a personal project, you get so in your own head and are always like, ‘Is this crazy? Am I crazy?’” Burley says, laughing. “It’s just really nice to have people come in or kids that want to spend hours looking through the books—this sense that they’re interested in the point of view of Climax and what we have to offer.”
On the subject of Climax moving beyond a bookstore, and becoming a “point of view,” as Burley puts it: another important element of the New York store is its role as a platform for her to grow Climax with a collection made in collaboration with the cult-favorite London-based brand Chopova Lowena also debuting this week. Items for sale include a frilly mesh underwear set with a custom-made bubble logo patterned across it, Chopova Lowena’s signature charm necklaces with one-of-a-kind book pendants, and a cheeky T-shirt featuring an illustration of a woman in fishnets with a peekaboo skirt that can be lifted to reveal the Climax logo across her bum. “I think books will always be the foundation, but it's almost like it can now expand beyond that,” says Burley. “Climax is now an attitude that can lend itself to all of these different things. It feels so exciting—and kind of like a never-ending project in terms of where it can lead.”
On the immediate horizon, however? Burley has an ongoing series of events planned to keep growing the Climax community in New York, including a talk and book signing from Rocha around the release of her Rizzoli book in October, as well as a party for the next book Burley is publishing, a 600-page tome of Martine Syms’s photographic archives that will launch later this month. But it also serves a moment for Burley to reflect on the stratospheric growth of Climax since its launch in 2020, and a fork in the road as she embarks on its next, more ambitious chapter. On this, however, she remains typically modest. “I never had any expectations for what it could become,” Burley says, smiling. “So it’s just been amazing over the last four years to see it become its own thing.”
Climax Books is now open at 56 East 4th Street, NYC 10003; Wednesday to Sunday, 12-7 p.m.
