Our aim is to delve deeper behind many ideas and assumptions. We cast a wider net – presenting cultural, political, philosophical, lifestyle and even ecological ideas to inform and inspire our growing readership. So one week there may be articles on the Anthropocene and the cultural history of the toilet. The next there may be something on the use of interior design as a tool of propaganda by the Nazis and a frank interview with Philippe Stark.
The editors at GDC interiors Journal cut their publishing teeth as European editors of Archidom – Russia’s highest circulation and original magazine for architecture and interiors. That prestigious and respected publication has been at the vanguard of the Russian design scene since the early 90s. But we aren’t just reporting on design – we are actually doing it! And we’ve been doing it for over 20 years…
As designers we love what we do. But we are also conflicted about our profession. It seems to us that our somewhat elitist and often wasteful profession – as residential interior designers – when set against the backdrop of all the man-made disasters that are threatening life on the planet like climate change and the meltdown of biodiversity, or all those factors creating the conditions of instability like our unsustainable disconnect from nature, overpopulation, catastrophic inequality, political radicalisation and war, is exactly what the idiom of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic was probably invented for. So while we are entirely happy not just to rearrange but even redesign the deck chairs, we would nevertheless feel compelled to point out – to anyone who may be interested to listen – that the ship is still sinking.
The chances are, you’re as conflicted about all this as we are. If so become a member and join the discussion.
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our contributors
There may have been a recent popular backlash against the ‘expert’, but we here respect that role – although of course it’s up to you to make up your mind. In fact a wide variety of world-class experts contribute to GDC interiors Journal, including journalists, academics, designers, artists, photographers, entrepreneurs and well known public figures.
Robert Bevan
Architecture critic for the London Evening Standard
He has previously been editor of Building Design and the architecture critic for The Australian and the Australian Financial Review. He has written for design, art and travel magazines around the world, including Vogue Living, where he was deputy editor. Robert is the author of The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War and is a member of the ICOMOS that advises UNESCO on world heritage.
Barbara Penner
Senior Lecturer in Architectural History at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
Her publications include ‘Newlyweds on Tour: Honeymooning in Nineteenth-century America‘ and ‘Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets and Gender‘. She regularly writes for architectural magazines such as Architectural Review, Cabinet, Icon and Places.
Dr Ian Jenkins
Historian and Senior Curator at the British Museum
He has published widely on the archaeology and art history. Ian has completed a number of exhibition projects including the recent acclaimed ‘Defining Beauty – The Body in Ancient Greek Art.’ He has recently published a major new history of the Greek architecture and architectural Greek sculpture in the Museum. He leads the British Museum’s excavations at Cnidus in south-west Turkey.
Dr Susan Owens
Writer, art historian and freelance curator
Susan was Curator of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Previously worked for the Royal Collection as a curator in the Print Room at Windsor Castle and has curated a number of major Queen’s Gallery exhibitions. She is author of The Art of Drawing: British Masters and Methods Since 1600.
Gwendolyn Leick
Historian and the Senior Lecturer at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London
She is author of various publications on the Ancient Near East including Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City and The Babylonians. Her recent book is Tombs of the Great Leaders.
Dr Steven Parissien
Director of Compton Verney museum and gallery in Warwickshire, England, Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, and the University of Warwick
Steven has published extensively on architectural and cultural history. His books include Adam Style, George IV: The Grand Entertainment, Interiors: The Home Since 1700 and The Life of the Automobile.
Gabrielle Ammann
Art and design gallerist, based in Cologne, Germany
The Ammann Gallery blurs the boundaries between art and design. Gabrielle was first to introduce the work of Marc Newson, Ron Arad and Milan based Studio Alchimia to Germany. One of her first solo exhibitions was on the work of Zaha Hadid and as she describes it “a visible architectural presence” is the connection between most of the works that she represents.
Jeremy Norman
Author and journalist, based in Malta
He has owned a number of important night clubs including the Embassy Club and Heaven – that became the world’s most famous gay nightclub. Jeremy currently owns the Soho Gyms chain. Jeremy’s candid autobiography, No Make Up – Straight Tales from a Queer Life was published in 2006.
Clive Aslet
Editor-at-large of Country Life magazine, a writer and a campaigner
He has written many books including The Last Country Houses, Quinlan Terry: The Revival of Architecture, The American Country House, The English House and An Exuberant Catalogue of Dreams: The Americans who Revived the Country House.
Despina Stratigakos
Professor of Architecture, University at Buffalo, New York USA
She has published widely on issues of diversity in architecture, including the award-winning A Women’s Berlin: Building the Modern City. She has served as a Director of the Society of Architectural Historians, an Advisor of the International Archive of Women in Architecture at Virginia Tech, a Trustee of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, and Deputy Director of the Gender Institute at the University at Buffalo.
Cleo Mussi
An established Mosaic Artist
Originally training at Goldsmiths in the late 80’s she graduated from The Textile department. She recycles a large proportion of her materials and is known for her humorous twists and attention to detail as observed in her solo touring installations. Cleo has also completed a number of large commissions for public spaces including The John Lewis Partnership in Solihull and The BBC Asian Network in Leicester.
Paul Dobraszczyk
Researcher and writer, visiting lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London and also a visual artist and photographer, based in Manchester
He has written and edited six books on visual culture and the built environment from the 19th century onwards.
Robin Dutt
Author, journalist, media consultant, lecturer, bon viveur and great British dandy
Specialising in the arts, interior design and of course sartorial matters, Robin is frequently featured and interviewed in a number of magazines and books on dandyism of which he is both expert and exemplar.
Ian Dejardin
Art historian and Director of the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London
In August 2016 Dulwich Picture Gallery announced that Ian is leaving to become Chief Executive of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Ontario in April 2017.
Colin O’Brien
Photographer
For over 70 years, Colin O’Brien has witnessed and recorded the changing face of London. His journey of photography began in 1948 when he took a picture of his two Italian friends with his family’s old brownie box camera in Clerkenwell. The Clerkenwell – or ‘Little Italy’ – Colin was born into in 1940 is now a long distant memory, compared to today’s loft apartments and designer shops along Clerkenwell Road.
Christian Schwägerl
Journalist, writer and biologist, based in Berlin
His book Menschenzeit was recently published in English with the title The Anthropocene – the human era and how it shapes our planet. Christian writes as a freelancer for GEO, FAZ, Cicero and other media. In addition, he runs the master class ‘The Future of Science Journalism’ at the Bosch Foundation.
Matthias Jung
Collage artist and graphic designer, based in Germany
Matthias’ first experiments with “surreal homes” began as a boy in his father’s photo lab. When he recently returned to his childhood project, he abandoned the scissors and glue for Photoshop. He has called his creations ‘architectural short poems’ that are intended to challenge perceptions of space and architecture.
Mark Gerald
Psychoanalyst and a photographer, based in New York
Mark is on the faculty of the New York University. Mark also teaches at the Stephen A. Mitchell Center for Relational Studies and the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, and he is on the faculty of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy.
Atlanta Bartlett
Interiors stylist
Atlanta is the author of Keep it Simple, the international best-selling Easy Elegance, At Home with White, and the co-author with Dave Coote of Pale and Interesting.
Tom Rowland
Film director, composer, and photographer based in London
Tom may be a jack-of-all-trades with his flexible and multidisciplinary career and creative collaborations, but his many accolades – including the recent award for his film Primitive at the BAFTA accredited Aesthetica festival in York – proves that he is master of all of them.
GDC interiors and Source may be all about seeking and finding your comfort zone. But by contrast GDC interiors Journal is all about making a virtue of the reverse. Our challenging thinkers will do their best to get you into a distinctly discomfort zone.
You may have come to us simply to look at a sofa. But you will hopefully leave with a whole new world of ideas.
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