Repubblica Launches Door, a Design-focused Monthly
MILAN — Italian progressive newspaper La Repubblica is launching a monthly supplement focused on design, interiors and home decor called Door.
Hitting newsstands on Thursday with its first, the May issue, the glossy title is helmed by Emanuele Farneti, editor in chief of D, the fashion- and lifestyle-focused weekly supplement to La Repubblica.
More from WWD
The Condé Nast veteran has ambitious plans for the new title, building on the reputation he has carved since taking over D and delivering covers by the likes of Paolo Roversi, Willy Vanderperre and Carlijn Jacobs, among others.
The first Door issue has a timely drop as Milan gears up for Salone del Mobile and Design Week, which runs from April 18 to 23. Door has planned events and activations, including a talk at the Rho-Fiera fairgrounds on April 20, an in-store event at the Slowear flagship on April 18 and the exhibition of doors created for the magazine by design firm Studiopepe in partnership with Alcantara displayed at key Milan landmarks throughout the week.
In his first editor’s letter, Farneti details all the stages — challenges, afterthoughts and all — of making a new magazine, explaining the reasoning behind the name and the launch of a new title.
“Making any magazine is first and foremost opening the door to readers, getting them to know other stories and new places. That’s why the magazine you’re about to read is called Door. In architecture, the door is simultaneously a divider and a unifier. Closed, it separates, hides and protects. Open, it reveals, welcomes and includes,” he writes.
The first issue comes with two covers, one spotlighting the house of Carla Sozzani, the founder of the namesake foundation and the entrepreneur behind the 10 Corso Como concept store, in the tony resort destination Portofino.
It aptly displays the main house door designed by artist and Sozzani’s partner Kris Ruhs for the grotto-like estate. The house was photographed by Santi Caleca.
“Door…is mostly a magazine about houses. Not the four walls delimiting it but everything they contain: our rapport with things around us, the years passed in it, the words, laughter and music that filled the air, people who lived in it for a long time or just stopped by one night for a glass of wine,” Farneti writes in his editor’s letter.
The second cover of the 400-page issue captures a Gaetano Pesce-designed chair covered in a shimmering silver fabric shot by Joaquin Laguinge inside the designer’s Brooklyn, New York, atelier.
Inside, articles and editorials include an interview with Salone del Mobile president Maria Porro; features on Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, the creative duo behind the Formafantasma design research studio, and Ron Gilad, in addition to product novelties and interviews with design entrepreneurs.
In addition to interiors, the magazine is poised to feature design-centric industries, including yachting, watches and jewelry and accessories, building a bridge between the two Farneti-helmed publications.
The glossy title comes in a big size of 9.5 and 11.5 inches and will have monthly thematic issues dedicated, for example, to the Venice Biennale of Architecture, traveling and the arts.
Farneti is joined by co-editor in chief Simona Movilia and creative director Davies Costacurta. Current editor in chief of La Repubblica’s design vertical RDesign Aurelio Magistà is joining the team as editor at large.
The launch of Door seems to align La Repubblica with its main competitor Corriere della Sera and its well known interior design monthly magazine Living.
Farneti has a track record in interiors-leaning publications, having helmed and helped revive the Italian version of AD between 2014 and 2017, before landing the top job at GQ.
He then briefly held the interim editor’s position at Italy’s AD in 2020, filling the position left vacant after the departure of Luca Dini, the publishing company’s former editorial director and editor in chief of Architectural Digest and CN Traveller Italia.
The monthly publication is part of the rich portfolio of the GEDI Gruppo Editoriale media group, whose majority stake is owned by John Elkann’s Exor holding company.
Best of WWD
