Apartamento

A different magazine about interior design

There’s an ongoing design project I’ve been working on since a couple of months: 88 m² I call “home”.

Fortunately I’ve got an excellent partner in this endeavour - my girlfriend. The interior design of our new apartment became a mutual hobby of ours. We spent hours and days in furniture stores, browsed countless websites and blogs for inspiration and collected ideas in a scrapbook.

As a magazine lover, I also constantly checked the newsstands about interesting publications on interior design, but I didn’t find anything we’ve really liked. Sure, there were bits and pieces in magazines that appealed to us, but the majority was totally uninspiring imagary of aseptic, artificial rooms equipped with expensive furniture; interiors that didn’t feel close to a “home” or anything a normal person would like to live in.

Last sunday however I’ve found the first issue of “apartamento - an everyday life interiors magazine“. Instead of showcasing the latest furniture products or trends in interior design, apartamento focuses on people and the environment they live in. The issue gives a glimpse in the living rooms of Purple editor Elein Fleiss, British band Mystery Jets and filmmaker/designer/artist Mike Mills, a feature on Annette Merrild’s “Room Project” and many other things.

The photographic style is similar to those you’ve find in vitra home collection catalogs, showing “untidy” (or better: authentic) interiors and using only natural light (actually co-editor and photographer Nacho Alegre was commissioned by vitra for their 2006 catalog). Also the editorial design cleary stands our from all the other magazines about interior design. Instead of glossy paper, art director Albert Folch chose a rougher, uncoated paper, that fits perfectly to the overall style and attitude of the magazine.

I’m already looking forward to the next issue.