Crafting Lifestyle Narratives Beyond the Paper

Openhouse magazine is an independent lifestyle publication edited in Barcelona with an international distribution whose content relies on art, architecture and design. Born in 2014, its pages highlight creative people who share a philosophy of life based on the conservation of values like tradition, culture, art and identity.

For Openhouse, the idea of sharing refers to its social meaning, linked to the physical and communal encounter. The first editions of the magazine had The Life we Share as a slogan. This phrase describes almost literally what its founders, Mari Luz Vidal and Andrew Trotter, were doing at that time in their own home; an apartment in the centre of Barcelona that they not only shared as roommates but also turned into a project in itself when they decided to open its doors to anyone who wanted to enjoy the different cultural activities that they both began to program. 

This act of sharing is still latent under the skin that Openhouse magazine inhabits. There are many people who began as names of professionals featured in Openhouse's pages that, along the way, have become close friends of the team. Architects, artists, curators and creators who opened the doors of their homes so that we the readers may feel as if they were on their own. This is a shared adventure by the hands of John Pawson, Axel Vervoordt, Vincenzo de Cotiis, the Gomis family, the Utzon family, Héctor Barroso, César Cervantes, Habitación 116, etc. The list is overwhelmingly long. 

Openhouse's journey is a circular one and, as also occurs in architecture in its facet as a creative discipline, as the end draws near, a new beginning is just over the horizon. In the worldwide current context of media and communication, magazines are no longer solely a printed matter, they have become universes, brands and creative agencies. And so it goes for Openhouse magazine which, after a while, gave birth to the Openhouse Studio. It creates content for brands, hotels and creatives moving away from traditional marketing models. 

Their mission is to convey lifestyle beyond an editorial line through the curation and design of a comprehensive creative proposal taking advantage of the team's expertise in art direction, creative writing, editorial photography and video. The result is a suitable narrative for an event or product before, during and after its launch, ensuring the coherence of the issued messages around it. By doing so, it builds up brand awareness and leads the narrative of every project closer to the final client’s language. 

Openhouse still is a meeting point of people alike, and the magazine a sort of guide for professionals in their search of interesting locations, artisan quality products and potential partners. At the end of the day, Openhouse's goal is and has always been the same: to strengthen ties with creative people around the world by inviting them to come in, sit down and chat.