Parkett

What Parkett does

Parkett is a privately held Swiss art publisher founded in 1984 by Bice Curiger, Jacqueline Burckhardt, and Dieter von Graffenried, operating as "Parkett" Publishers Ltd. headquartered in Zurich with a New York office. Between 1984 and 2017, the company published 101 volumes featuring 270 contemporary artists from over 40 countries, each volume pairing three to five scholarly texts by renowned authors and curators with a limited-edition original artwork created by the collaborating artist. The model uniquely combined scholarly publishing with editioned art — functioning as both a small museum and a large library of contemporary art. Following the closure of its print run in December 2017, Parkett transitioned to a digital/physical archive model, offering the Virtual Museum Tour, the 'A Time Capsule' eBook catalog raisonné (available in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean), viewing rooms in Zurich and New York, and travelling museum exhibitions at institutions including MoMA, Tate, Pompidou, and LUMA Arles.

The business model rests on multiple revenue streams: standard book sales (€32-€39), special box sets and CD-ROMs (€35-€750), limited edition artworks (€600-€7,500+), and digital catalogue raisonné products. Distribution combines direct online sales via parkettart.com, regional wholesale distributors (D.A.P. for the US, Central Books for the UK, GVA for Germany, Idea Books for the Netherlands, Scheidegger for Switzerland), and art fair participation (Art Basel, IFPDA, Nomad St. Moritz). Customer segments split between individual art collectors acquiring editions and a global roster of museums/institutions plus academic libraries acquiring the archive for research and exhibition purposes. The company employs 11-50 staff and remains founder-led, with no institutional investment, M&A, or funding rounds disclosed in the source material.

Name

Parkett

Legal name

"Parkett" Publishers Ltd.

Website

https://parkettart.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Parkett is a Swiss art publisher (founded 1984, Zurich) that published 101 volumes of contemporary art paired with 270 limited-edition artworks from 1984-2017, and now monetizes its archive via digital products, museum exhibitions, and viewing rooms in Zurich and New York, serving collectors and institutions globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Contemporary Art Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Art, Photography & Illustrated Books Publishing (MPAJAAAF)

Keywords

• Contemporary art publishing
• Limited edition artworks
• Artist book editions
• Art catalog raisonne
• Museum exhibition services

Headquarters

HQ city

Zürich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Sale of 101 Parkett volumes published between 1984-2017, each containing three to five texts by renowned authors and curators on contemporary artists
2. Limited Edition Artworks: Sale of editioned artworks created in direct collaboration with artists, ranging from prints, sculptures, installations, media works, to paintings and drawings. Editions are sold at various price points (€39-€7,500+)
3. Special Book Titles: Sale of special book titles including exhibition catalogs, the Parkett Reader series, and limited edition publications
4. Artist Inserts: Sale of special limited edition inserts - original artists' bookpage projects made directly for Parkett magazine

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Parkett publishes dual-language (English/German) art books in direct collaboration with contemporary artists, with each volume featuring three to five scholarly texts by renowned authors and curators paired with a limited-edition artwork created by the collaborating artist. The company has produced 101 volumes (1984-2017) covering 270 artists from over 40 countries, and additionally offers a digital eBook catalog raisonné (A Time Capsule), special limited-edition publications, traveling museum exhibitions, and viewing room access in Zurich and New York.

Product overview

Parkett is an art publication company that created a unique hybrid of a small museum and large library through direct collaborations with contemporary artists. The core offering consists of 101 Parkett volumes (1984-2017) featuring artist portraits with scholarly texts, paired with 270 limited-edition artworks created specially by collaborating artists. These are complemented by the digital A Time Capsule eBook catalog raisonné, virtual museum tours, physical viewing rooms in Zurich and New York, museum exhibition services, and the Parkett Inserts series of original artists' bookpage projects. The complete collection serves museums, readers, libraries and collectors worldwide as a 33-year time capsule of contemporary art.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Parkett Volumes (Books) A collection of 101 dual-language art publications (1984-2017) featuring collaborations with contemporary artists. Each volume contains three to five scholarly texts by renowned authors and curators on a featured artist, with editioned artworks created by each collaborating artist.
• Parkett Editions (Artist Editions)

Quantifiable outcome

• 33 years of continuous publication (1984-2017)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ikkan Art LLCcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 March 2024Joint presenter of 'The Complete Parkett Collection: A Chronicle of Contemporary Art' exhibition at Artspace @ Helutrans, Singapore (March 8-31, 2024), marking the first time the complete collection was presented in its entirety.
• STPI Creative Workshop & GallerycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 March 2024Joint presenter of the Singapore exhibition showcasing all 101 Parkett volumes and 270 editioned artworks created in collaboration with contemporary artists from 1984 to 2017.
• LUMA ArlescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Permanent archive room at LUMA Arles featuring Parkett collections, with first focus on Sigmar Polke's three collaborations with Parkett spanning ten years. Opened 2021.
• D.A.P. / Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorExclusive distributor for United States and other territories. Located at 155 Av. of the Americas, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10013.
• Central BookscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistributor for Great Britain and other territories. Located at 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN.
• GVA Verlagsservice GöttingencoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistributor for Germany and other territories. Based in Göttingen, Germany.
• Idea BookscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistributor for Netherlands. Located at Nieuwe Herengracht 11, NL-1011 RK Amsterdam.
• Scheidegger & Co. / AVAcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistributor for Switzerland. Located at Centralweg 16, CH-8910 Affoltern a. A.
• Helu-Trans (S) Pte LtdminorOthersSponsor of the Complete Parkett Collection exhibition at Artspace @ Helutrans, Singapore (March 2024).
• David Zwirner GalleryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosted 'For Keeps: Selected Parkett Editions' exhibition at their 537 West 20th Street location in New York, June-August 2022, featuring work by more than forty artists.
• MBAL (Musée des beaux-arts, Le Locle)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosted Triennale exhibition 'Elles - de A à Z' featuring all works made by women for Parkett (October 2021 - January 2022).

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Aperture Foundation: Aperture Foundation is a New York-based nonprofit photography publisher producing books, a quarterly magazine (Aperture Magazine), and exhibitions. Like Parkett, Aperture combines publishing with curatorial/exhibition programming and serves institutional and collector audiences, though its focus is exclusively on photography rather than broader contemporary art.
• Phaidon Press: Phaidon Press is a London/New York-based publisher specializing in visual arts, architecture, design, photography, and contemporary culture books. It shares Parkett's positioning as a premium art book publisher serving museums, institutions, and discerning collectors, though Phaidon's catalog is broader and lacks Parkett's artist-edition co-creation model.
• Artforum: Artforum is a long-established contemporary art magazine and publisher serving collectors, curators, and critics. Like Parkett, Artforum occupies a premium cultural-publishing position in the contemporary art ecosystem, though Artforum ceased print publication in 2023 and does not produce limited-edition artworks.
• Printed Matter: Printed Matter is a New York-based nonprofit bookstore and publisher specializing in artists' books. Like Parkett's Parkett Inserts program (75 artists over 25 years), Printed Matter focuses on artist-produced book objects and limited-edition publications, though its catalog is broader and institutional rather than tied to a single editorial lineage.
• Edition Schellmann: Edition Schellmann is a Munich-based publisher of limited-edition prints and multiples by major contemporary artists. Edition Schellmann shares Parkett's edition-driven half of the business model, producing editioned artworks from blue-chip artists, but operates without the companion scholarly publication.
• Frieze: Frieze operates a leading contemporary art magazine alongside international art fairs (Frieze London, Frieze New York, Frieze Seoul) and publishing. Frieze shares Parkett's positioning in contemporary art media serving collectors and institutions, but its scope is broader editorial coverage rather than artist-portrait-plus-edition co-creation.
• Steidl: Steidl is a Göttingen-based independent art and photography book publisher known for artist monographs and high production values. Steidl shares Parkett's ethos of artist-driven, premium-quality art book publishing, but does not pair publications with original editioned artworks in the Parkett model.
• Hatje Cantz: Hatje Cantz is a German art publisher with deep roots in contemporary art monographs, exhibition catalogs, and museum publications. Like Parkett, Hatje Cantz serves major museums and publishes artist-focused scholarly books, but operates without Parkett's signature artist-edition companion model.
• Karma Books: Karma is a New York-based independent publisher and art bookshop producing artist monographs, artist books, and editions. Karma shares Parkett's model of pairing high-quality artist-focused publications with original art editions and serving a collector audience.
• Taschen: Taschen is a Cologne-based publisher of high-quality illustrated art books, including monographs on contemporary artists, architecture, photography, and design. Like Parkett, Taschen produces premium coffee-table art books sold through museum stores and to collectors worldwide, but operates at significantly larger scale and does not pair its books with editioned artworks.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/parkettart
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/parkett

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Parkett