Limited edition book by Standart
Coffee has a way of revealing life in its quietest, most unguarded moments. Published by Standart, A Measure of Life: Coffee Moments from the Past Century gathers 185 archival photographs from the past century, tracing how this simple ritual has shaped mornings, conversations, relationships, and rhythms across generations.
Curated by designer and curator David Miró, with foreword from Japanese artist Jun Iwasaki, our new book pairs iconic imagery with overlooked fragments of everyday life. Across three chapters: Patience, Pleasure, and Bliss—it moves through kitchens, cafés, caravans, film sets, and city corners, finding poetry in the ordinary.
Our new limited-edition book features work by renowned photographers such as Saul Leiter, Dario Catellani, and Sarah Blais, alongside anonymous and vernacular images that enrich its human texture. Cultural figures from David Bowie and Isabella Rossellini to Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch, and Chloë Sevigny appear not as celebrities but as participants in a shared, familiar ritual.
Printed in Berlin, Germany, on premium Holmen paper and bound in a woven hardcover, this 200+ page volume is designed for slow reading and long lingering.
A Measure of Life: Coffee Moments from the Past Century is a visual journey through 100 years of coffee rituals; from kitchens and cafés to studio sets and fleeting street scenes. A curated collection of 185 photographs by celebrated and anonymous artists alike, capturing the quiet, intimate, and timeless moments shaped by a cup of coffee.
Part III: Bliss
The fleeting high: the spark of inspiration, the soft focus of a lazy morning, the lightness that follows a perfect sip.
Bliss is brief, but it stays with us.
Part II: Pleasure
Here is coffee as companionship: shared tables, clinking cups, conversations that spill over, the comfort of hands wrapped around something warm. A study of presence and simple joy.
Part I: Patience
Coffee begins in slowness. This chapter lingers on the quiet rituals of grinding, waiting, warming. The small pauses that frame the day before it begins.
Coffee has a way of revealing life in its quietest, most unguarded moments. Published by Standart, A Measure of Life: Coffee Moments from the Past Century gathers 185 archival photographs from the past century, tracing how this simple ritual has shaped mornings, conversations, relationships, and rhythms across generations.
Curated by designer and curator David Miró, with foreword from Japanese artist Jun Iwasaki, our new book pairs iconic imagery with overlooked fragments of everyday life. Across three chapters: Patience, Pleasure, and Bliss—it moves through kitchens, cafés, caravans, film sets, and city corners, finding poetry in the ordinary.
Our new limited-edition book features work by renowned photographers such as Saul Leiter, Dario Catellani, and Sarah Blais, alongside anonymous and vernacular images that enrich its human texture. Cultural figures from David Bowie and Isabella Rossellini to Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch, and Chloë Sevigny appear not as celebrities but as participants in a shared, familiar ritual.
Printed in Berlin, Germany, on premium Holmen paper and bound in a woven hardcover, this 200+ page volume is designed for slow reading and long lingering.
Finding a thoughtful gift for a coffee lover isn’t easy. A Measure of Life: Coffee Moments from the Past Century offers something deeper: a beautifully curated, 200+ page visual journey through a century of coffee rituals. A timeless, meaningful gift that feels anything but generic.
Shop all
Browse through some of the latest issues of Standart or our special collaboration projects.
