I recently discovered the magazine Openhouse and I have to tell you all about it. Set up by Barcelona-based Andrew Trotter and Mari Luz Vidal, Openhouse is a twice-yearly publication that features bright, creative people from all around the world who have decided to open their homes or their private spaces to the public for all kinds of different activities, from gastronomy to art and design. I always like peering into people’s homes, whether on Pinterest or in my ‘I wish I lived here’ posts, but these are not just nicely designed houses, these are real, intimate homes or spaces, brimming with creativity, generosity and a cheery communal spirit. People taking part also share their secret loved places in their towns or some of their favourite recipes.
In the first issue, for example, they visited GnamBox in Milan, who invite people into their home to cook their favourite dishes, and met fashion brand Bless, who have their Berlin shop in a home where Mira Schroder welcomes in customers once a week. Or there was Tony Hornecker, who opens his home in London into a magical restaurant for only a few brief seasons each year.
The latest issue, the second, takes a peek at the Freunde von Freunden Apartment in Berlin (my favourite website for also peering into people’s homes – there’s a theme here – it’s really very good) that takes shape as an office, events spaces and cosy apartment for occasional overnight guests. They also visit a small village in the Italian countryside where Attillio and Paola live in and old cinema and regularly open their doors for film nights. In each issue they aim to visit a house that has been designed by a famous architect and is open to the public; this time it’s Philip Johnson’s beautiful Glass House.
Find out more about the magazine on their website here.
Have you ever asked yourself: when was the last time I had a real conversation with someone I didn’t know? With this question, we started the Openhouse project two years ago. We could have opened a gallery, or a restaurant, but instead we opened our home, and we discovered an extraordinary thing. The intimacy of a home can change many things, but what we saw is that it changes how we react to the other people around us.
Andrew Trotter and Mari Luz Vidal, issue one.
