Reading is a Conversation

The smell of fresh print from a newly bought magazine. The way its front cover might stop you in your tracks and want to open its pages to discover more. The appealing use of typography and the layout of text. Photography, illustrations, and inspiringly crafted words. What is not to love? We share the same passion. That is why we decided to speak about our favorite magazines & books.

No matter which side of the table you prefer to be on, you can not ignore that we are in the midst of a new era in which time has stopped. Environmental and political discord, home-office environment, less traveling, and fewer experiences. What better time to dig into new adventures through creative reading? Learn how to make an impact by unplugging for a bit and letting a book or a magazine drive you to new life-changing journeys.

These publications are sharing eye-opening perspectives from art and design to travel and technology, a unique journey around the world. Unravel stories around architecture and interior design, deep-dive into new cooking techniques and secrets about herbs. Well-traveled, simply written, and harmoniously curated, they will take you on new journeys. Let’s explore new insights.

Bookstores are more than places that sell books. They are focal points of communities, a warm welcome to a city, a place for first-time visitors and longtime residents alike to gather in a shared love of the written word. They are places where time moves a little slower, where customers can get lost in the pages of a book, or enjoy readings, concerts, and events that bring together like-minded individuals with a thirst for knowledge.

Each bookstore is as unique as the diverse customers who frequent them. There are the secret ones tucked away with stacks reaching floor to ceiling; there are minimalist concept stores; there are dazzling book temples. You can found them in apartments, on boats, and in Gothic cathedrals.

Lose yourself in the pages of this showcase. You can find some of the most beautiful, innovative, and successful bookshops around the world. Bookshops are high-powered places. They have the freedom to deep dive into their niche, from cooking to cartoons, architecture to anarchy. Do you read me? reconsiders the bookshop as a cornerstone of the community, where subcultures have the physical space to thrive. Bookshops also are universally recognized as marketplaces of knowledge, curiosity, inspiration, and entertainment. They also promote communication and tolerance across cultures and have become destinations for both local communities and travelers. Within a changing media environment, their role has been shifting, leading their overseers to pursue different ways to engage with their customers and build local and sometimes even regional support for their businesses. Do you read me? seeks out the most innovative and beautiful bookshops achieving this, sharing their concepts and celebrating book culture in all its glorious forms.

From Daikanyama Tsutaya Books in Tokyo to Kosmos Buchsalon in Zurich, Do You Read Me? travels the globe to discover these gems and some of the people behind them, who turn an ordinary trip to the bookstore into an extraordinary experience.

Marianne Julia Strauss (editor), Gestalten (editor)

Apartamento is widely recognized as today’s most influential, inspiring, and honest interiors magazine. International, well-designed, simply written, and tastefully curated since 2008. Apartamento is an indispensable resource for individuals who are passionate about the way they live.

The publication is published biannually from its headquarters in Barcelona. It also has offices in Milan and New York City.

Marco Velardi and Omar Sosa, together with Nacho Alegre, are the brains behind Apartamento. The magazine that bills itself as “an everyday life interiors magazine.” Each issue takes us inside some beautiful homes created by some beautiful people. Omar, an art director based in Barcelona, works closely with Marco, the Milan ­based editor-in-­chief of the mag; and himself boasts a rather lovely apartment.

Apartamento is a magazine about homes, living spaces, and design solutions as opposed to houses, photo ops, and design dictatorships. It features the homes and lives of creative people, both established and emerging, from all over the world. And it understands interior design as a means of personal expression, showing how people arrange their homes and the solutions they find to the same problems that everyone has. The magazine puts forward a fresh and simply crafted aesthetic. It cares about the way people live and their relationships with the places they live.

In 2018 Apartamento studios will be established as a creative agency. With offices in Barcelona and New York City and satellite studios in Berlin and Milan, the agency is the result of more than ten years worth of insights gained from working in the creative industries and publishing.

Edited by Nacho Alegre, with an introduction by Oscar Tusquets. Inspired by the early style of Corbusier and ideas on Mediterranean architecture espoused by the likes of Bernard Rudofsky and Josep Lluís Sert, a younger generation of architects found the perfect conditions to explore the future of the Mediterranean house in Cadaqués—a small fishing village on the Spanish Costa Brava that was also home, or the summer meeting ground, for some of the past century’s greatest artistic figures, including Dalí, Picasso, Miró, and Duchamp.

In this most tumultuous of years, Apartamento’s back with its trusty companion to cooking, our fifth annual cookbook that in 2020 have dedicated to spices and herbs, the magic, medicinal stuff of legend, the foundation of whole civilizations, and the hot and fiery but also calm and soothing starting point for all 16 recipes in this book. Whichever you need, Cookbook #5: Herbs & Spices has you covered—this year with illustrations by US artist Zebadiah Keneally.

The Weekender is an independent magazine from Germany that was founded in 2011. It is about travel, food, interiors, and other stories. They have published 34 issues thus far. The summer issue 2020, out since June, is their first one entirely printed in English. The Weekender was made with much love by a small team from Berlin and Cologne.

The Weekender is all about lifestyle – from telling stories about people to places. It is an independent magazine full of stories relating to living, traveling, eating, handicrafts and nature. Weekender is an established independent magazine about living, travel, and lifestyle in general. “We show inspiring places to live – from the apartment to the houseboat to the castle, in its rugged state without posing. A well-designed mix of stories from all over the world packed into a magazine, with topics from the fields of travels, interiors, food, design, and nature.”

In an era where global interest in handmade, small-batch products is heightening as a response to mass production, Handmade in Japan takes a look inside the workshops of the country’s artisans, revealing their endless pursuit of excellence, and what it means to dedicate one’s life to the stewardship of irreplaceable cultural heritage. Find inspiration in the exploration of handmade processes using sustainable materials and discover the lengths these makers go to in ensuring every product is perfect.

From hand-painted kimono dyeing to wooden trays carving, Handmade in Japan meets the craftspeople of Japan's diverse regions with unique insights into their traditions and how they work. Irwin Wong is an editorial and commercial photographer based in Tokyo. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, he moved to Japan in 2005. He developed an interest in craftsmanship after photographing several artisans for work. His clients include Apple, The Washington Post, Forbes, and Nike.

In the modern workplace, corner offices and water coolers have given way to open layouts and office dogs. Yet while the workplace itself is changing, what it takes to be a good employee and reliable coworker remains the same. From maximizing productivity to navigating office dating and communal kitchens, Work Life is a handbook for the modern office—whatever yours looks.

“Somewhere along the way (before the proliferation of the word “adulting”) we figured it out. We got bigger jobs and stopped sending each other “SOS” group texts. Last year, when I was trying to wrap my head around having lived in New York for a decade, I decided to write the work handbook that my friends and I could have used during that hot confusing summer that we all landed here. Work Life: A Survival Guide to the Modern Office is a recreation of the friendly, whispered wisdom I benefited from in quiet corners” and on walks to grab a coffee. (Make that coffee. I still have the orders memorized.)

Sam Chermayeff [et al.]: Creatures, edited by Moritz Küng, is a look back through nearly two decades of experimental projects undertaken by the Berlin-based architect Sam Chermayeff and his collaborators—for the most part, pieces of furniture whose use, appearance, or application has been reimagined and readapted. Sam Chermayeff [et al.]: Creatures, edited by Moritz Küng, is a look back through nearly two decades of experimental projects undertaken by the Berlin-based architect Sam Chermayeff and his collaborators—for the most part, pieces of furniture whose use, appearance, or application has been reimagined and readapted. But these ‘creatures’ are not just conceptual; they’re made to be lived with daily and all start with the idea that personal whim is probably the best guide for producing any design that’s to be lived with day in, day out.

Standart began with the idea that good coffee should be accessible to everyone. Awarded 2017, 2018, and 2019 Best Coffee Magazine, Standart is a well-curated, independent print publication that explores the beauty and diversity of coffee culture. It started with a simple goal in mind: to celebrate the culture of specialty coffee through a marriage of thoughtful writing and beautiful design.

Every issue has 15 articles, stories, interviews, or essays from some of the brightest minds in coffee, and beyond. “With every issue, we take you around the globe, and through coffee-tinted spectacles, we explore the world.”