IDEA started from a passion between co-founders Angela Hill and David Owen for extensively sourcing rare vintage books. Having built their own personal collections with multiple copies of their favourites, the two started to sell their books in the late 90s through Colette, a Parisian high-fashion boutique and streetwear retailer and then later through Dover Street Market where it still exists today. IDEA now also runs through an Instagram page and e-commerce website where they sell what they call "superbooks" amongst all other rarities and today are likely to be one of the biggest collection and archives of super-rare and obscure books for sale on the market.
IDEA's collection of superbooks are generally regarded as "books that are new to us [IDEA] and have huge potential to inspire new ideas”, books that "take on such power” because of their uniqueness, age and sometimes extraordinary subject matter. From; photography and art books, vintage exhibition catalogs, (a super rare Donald Judd Catalogue Raisonné from 1975 has just surfaced for £3,500.00), fashion collection lookbooks, design catalogs, band retrospectives and everything weird and wonderful in-between whether it be ‘A Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants’, 'Rock Stars In Their Underpants' or the ‘Erotic Sketchbook’ by Salvador Dali - we recommend taking a look for yourself and scroll through their Instagram feed.
Its this growing collection of superbooks that allures IDEA's most exclusive clientele of leading industry professionals from within fashion, design and architecture as well as artists and musicians who have all used the archive from IDEA as source material and inspiration. These books aren’t for everyone, they are weird and wonderful with some so rare that hardly anybody has heard of them, but they are adored and treasured by the people who do know.
Angela Hill, David Owen and IDEA have taken their knowledge and passion for selling vintage books and developed it into publishing their own, collaborating with the likes of Stussy, Palace, Gucci, Vetements etc. More recently IDEA have published a collection of iconic photographs by Dave Swindells into a book called 'Ibiza ’89', at first a sell out with demand to produce a second edition just weeks after, as well as the brand new and expansive book 'SPIKE ISLAND' featuring multiple photographers including Swindells.
SPIKE ISLAND is a photographic documentary of a legendary single day event held in the North of England on May 27, 1990. The occasion was a concert by The Stone Roses. The location was Spike Island, Widnes, Cheshire. The book is not about The Stone Roses as such, this is a book about the fans and really about what they wore. Photographed by Dave Swindells, Patrick Harrison and Peter J Walsh, SPIKE ISLAND is a visual encyclopaedia of 80s/90s British street style. When indie rock met dance in the third summer of love.
We are pleased to be stocking publications from IDEA with us here at Consortium, 'SPIKE ISLAND' and 'IDEA Fanpages 2!' are available with us online now!
