The big moments of your life should last a lifetime
Every person's life has unforgettable moments that define it. At MILK Books, we believe that preserving these moments beautifully should be a simple and joyful experience. Headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, we're a small team devoted to the tradition of memory keeping.
Our heritage is designing and creating some of the world’s most loved photographic books
Behind MILK Books is over 60 years of expert publishing experience and an enormous love of bookmaking. Our founder Geoff Blackwell is part of the team behind award-winning publishing house Blackwell and Ruth (formerly PQ Blackwell), who have been entrusted with creating beautiful books for some of the world’s leading photographers and figures including Princess Diana, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu.
After decades of experience in bookmaking, we’ve tried all sorts of paper types, binding methods, and printing techniques to bring you what you see today at MILK Books. We lean on our history of expertise, obsessive attention to detail, and timeless design philosophy to help people all over the world create their own enduring and exquisite photo books.
Moments of Inspiration, Love and Kinship
MILK stands for ‘Moments of Inspiration, Love and Kinship’, a sentiment that inspired our founder, Geoff Blackwell, long before the current MILK ever existed. In 1999, Geoff started the MILK Collection with the aim of collecting photographs, from both amateur and professional photographers, which celebrated our shared humanity. By 2001, the collection had grown to around 40,000 images, 300 of which were chosen to be the heart of an exhibition and used to create the three original M.I.L.K. series of photographic books ‘Family’, ‘Friendship’ and ‘Love’. The project was an international best-seller, but the concept was simple: to capture and celebrate what unites us as human beings – those moments of inspiration, love and kinship. A decade later, Geoff had the idea of creating a new print-on-demand photo book business allowing anyone to celebrate their own special moments in beautiful books and albums. In 2012 MILK Books was launched from New Zealand.
We bring our book publishing expertise to help you create your own enduring, exquisite photo books
Our small team is dedicated to ensuring your cherished moments of Inspiration, Love and Kinship last for generations. Years of honing the art of bookmaking have enabled us to create beautifully handmade, print-on-demand books and albums. Our premium range uses the finest archival materials (this means our books and albums are made to last - resistant to deterioration or loss of quality) and stunning 6-color printing. We’re proud of our unique, easy-to-use online Design Studio, and from our history creating award winning photographic table books we have curated a selection of timeless designer templates to ensure all our customers can create their own professional quality photo books and albums. We then ensure they are printed using the latest print technology before shipping to their new homes all over the world.
Made with love, integrity, and care
There are no short-cuts on the road to excellence; MILK Photo Books and Albums are made the same way beautiful books have always been made – painstakingly, using the best materials and methods at hand.
We focus on making moments last
We believe your stories should be celebrated with future generations. That's why our range features archival quality materials that will stand the test of time. Our keepsakes are designed to last lifetimes and if you follow our Care Guide, your photo books and albums will be enjoyed for many years to come. If you're not entirely satisfied with the quality of your keepsake, we will do all we can to make it right as per our Satisfaction Promise.
What we believe
We started with the belief that every person's life has unforgettable moments that define it. From marriage vows to Sundays at the park, these are the moments, both big and small, that we think deserve to be cherished. We believe that the best memories aren’t meant to fade away on the “cloud” – they’re meant to be saved, celebrated, and most importantly shared. So here’s to always choosing print over pixels, watching more sunsets than Netflix, and creating moments that are truly worth celebrating.
Why it matters
Sometimes it can feel like your world is moving too fast: suddenly the days disappear into weeks and the weeks into years and it all begins to blur. And sometimes, in the middle of all of this, there will be a moment — be it a smile, a word, a kiss - that brings you back to life and reminds you of the good in the world. And it’s that moment, the glimmer of hope, that is worth celebrating. We strive every day to help you to create a book that is worthy of those moments.
