Hervé Tullet has created over 80 books, perhaps most famously the best-selling, interactive “Press Here,” which invites children to touch and shake its pages. His latest project is “The Ideal Exhibition,” a series of workshops he conducts around the world in which attendees are invited to participate in the art-making process. We spoke at his studio on the top floor of the brownstone he lives in with his family in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood. These are edited excerpts from our conversation.

How long has this been your studio?

Three and a half years. We were preparing to move to New York from Paris, and we had only 10 days to find an apartment to live in, with space for my studio. We wanted to be in Harlem, to be close to my daughter’s school. It was hard, but then we found this brownstone. I love it. The wood built-ins are so good, you don’t need much furniture.