OPENHOUSE magazine : is ready for the printers

So this is it !!! We have been working hard this last year, and now the magazine is ready to print.

We had so many people write to us with stories about similar places to our Openhouse Project in their towns, so we decided to set about writing it all down. To get us started, and help finance the project, we have gone with kickstarter, please take a look there, where you can see our video, and if you like you can pledge as little as 1€, and there are many gifts on offer, that will help us on our way to getting the magazine printed.

Thank you for all your support in the past, and we hope you will continue with us on our future journey !! Andrew + Mari Luz

http://openhouse-magazine.com/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/openhousemagazine/openhouse-magazine

https://www.facebook.com/openhousemagazine

 

a japanese visit to openhouse : design & architecture : ikko yokoyama : jo nagasaka : yoshihide kobanawa

i was very proud to get a visit on saturday by 2 top architects and a curator from japan. i had contacted ikko a year or so ago when i had seen the work that she is doing with editions in craft, with african ladies which were being exhibited in rossana orlandi. this summer i had a visit by pieke bergmans, and after i wrote about her, and the work she had done at the llove hotel in japan. after i wrote again about the whole llove hotel project.

a couple of weeks ago, ikko wrote to me and said she was coming to barcelona with her friend, architect, jo nagasaka. she said that he had seen that i had wrote about him and his projects in japan with schemata and that they would like to meet me and see the openhouse project. they came saturday evening with a friend, yoshihide kobanawa, who works here for rcr aquitects, and is also a friend of my flatmate nobu. it is a very small world.

we shared a wonderful evening of talking and wine. it was a pleasure to have them at home, and to find out about their new projects. photo : mari luz vidal

berlin trip #4 : photography : mari luz vidal

while we were in berlin for the openhouse project pica pica party at the bless shop home, we spent many hours walking the streets, and enjoying the unusualy warm sunshine for that time of year. here are some photos by mari luz from our walk around kreuzberg                                                             .

berlin trip #3 : pica pica party : openhouse project goes to the bless shop home : photos by mari luz vidal

photos : mari luz vidal  text : andrew trotter

my connection to bless goes way back, from first seeing the fur wigs they made for martin margiela and seeing their clothes in the b store in london. when i moved to bilbao we were selling bless in persuade, and then i sold bless home wear in my shop openhouse in barcelona. but it wasn’t until we started the openhouse project that my connection to bless became a lot more personal.

as we started to write about homes that were opened to the public for the openhouse project magazine, the bless shop home berlin was one of my first interviews. from then i struck up an e-mail friend ship with mira, the resident at the bless home. just after her interview she asked if i knew somewhere nice to stay in barcelona for a summer holiday, so the only nice place i really knew was our home.

she came with her friend, annika, and straight away we hit it off. after her holiday she told me i should come and stay a while in the bless home, and i suggested we make a sushi party there. unfortunately, nobu couldnt come, so we had to think of something else. so off we went, mari luz and i, and a fine leg a jamon for a week in berlin and a pica pica party, spanish style.

we realised we had brought the spanish sun with us for a very unusual 20 degress in the middle of october. we had bright sun, and the colours of the berlin autumn were amazing.

we were suprised to find out that most of the 30 people coming to the party were not all known to the bless crew. we spent the day cleaning, buying wine, making tortilla and preparing to cook the fideua. the evening came, and then started to arrive a wonderful mix of people to the home. there were 5 from the bless crew, some neighboughs from the building, two other fashion designers, there was a famous writer, who has a page called cee cee about cool things to do in berlin, and even two tourists from holland who had seen it advertised on that blog. after the initial half an hour of people being nervous and not knowing how to place themselves within the home, everyone started to eat and drink and in the end a great time was had by all. pablo a photographer friend of mari luz came and played guitar and we projected the bless shows onto a facing blank wall so we could watch from the windows and balcony.

thank you mira and everyone at bless for being wonderful hosts and see you for a sushi party very soon

andrew

berin trip # 2 : newton bar : photography : helumt newton

newton bar : helmut newton : photo : andrew trotter

 

berlin trip #1 : exhibition : art : robert montgomery : stattbad wedding

 last week i was in berlin with the openhouse project. we were told that we had to go to a party by mono kultur, a berlin web and magazine about the arts. so we went. i didnt expect that it was an art exhibition by robert montgomery and that it was in the stattbad wedding swimming pool from the 1960’s. it was amazing to see the art in such a context, and to see the people inside the pool drinking and smoking, yes they still smoke indoors in berlin.  photos : andrew trotter                                 .

openhouse meets lobster’s day : andrew & albert : photo : mari luz vidal : barcelona

andrew & albert , by mari luz vidal 

lobster’s day

 

moving home : openhouse meets openhouse-project : barcelona

this is what you get when you close a shop and the only place to put everything is in your home. it took me a while to get everything organised before the last openhouse project event took place  .

 

moving with you : before the rain : art exhibition : random international : the carpenters workshop gallery : paris

 

 

just after i had been in london last month, someone told me i should have visited the carpenters workshop gallery. great that they always tell you thins after you have been. so when i had to nip to paris for work i did not loose the chance to pop in to their paris gallery. here i discovered random international, a london based trio comprising of stuart wood, florian ortkrass and hannes koch. their exhibition before the rain blew me away. these were all portraits, but instead of being of them selves, or other people, they were portraits of the on looker, either reflected by mirros that followed you, LEDs that lit up in your shape as you moved around the piece, or lit squares that when you passed in front turned into mirrors. if you are going to paris before the 21st of december, don’t miss out. photos and text : andrew trotter                                                                                                 .

london trip : kew gardens

photos : andrew trotter