Gustav Klimt: Drawings and Paintings [PHOTO BY KARIM TABAR/PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY]

While the long gestation of Taschen books doesn't allow the company to cater to specific markets such as Hong Kong, it will be on the lookout for artists, photographers and designers from the city to present to the rest of the world. "We want to reach out and make new relationships," she says. "I hope we can find collaborations with galleries, auction houses and so on." To this end, she wants the Hong Kong store to be a place for people of all stripes to meet. "I love the outside," she says, indicating the Tai Kwun courtyard. "I hope we will make good friends with the cafes around."

Taschen will host talks in conjunction with as yet undetermined local partners ("to mix it up a little bit") and established ones like the Financial Times. There will be book signings, raising the possibility that locals may get to meet a few of the publisher's star names, which include photographer David LaChapelle, cartoonist Robert Crumb and artist David Hockney.

Yet it's the more unassuming books that fuel her own passions. She opens one, Entryways of Milan, and points: "That is our color inspiration for the store - red, blue and yellow." It's a drawing by 20th-century architect and designer Gio Ponti, whose grandson Salvatore Licitra has worked on the interiors of Taschen's recent stores, including the one in Hong Kong. "This is the other thing about books - you get inspiration from them. A picture like this can inspire everything we see here."