ANTI-WEB.COM

Following the construction of Frank Gehry’s splendid Guggenheim Bilbao Museum — which looks like a futuristic vessel shipwrecked at the Nervión River — it makes sense that a more conscientious design culture would follow in the Basque city a decade later. Enter Libreria ANTI-, a bookstore on a rougher stretch of Bilbao and which supplies denizens with the kind of cutting-edge visual art and design books that locals were hard-pressed to find before. Then why is ANTI- co-owner Javi Nevado against the city’s goal to become the World Capital of Design in 2014? Read our interview with him to find out the answer, and more, in November’s Shop of the Month feature.

How did Libreria ANTI- happen?
Two years after graduating from university, we decided to create a bookshop in the neighborhood we lived in when we were students. We created the kind of bookshop we would to see as customers, which didn’t exist before ANTI- was born. ANTI- is focused on contemporary visual culture and design.

Where is Libreria ANTI- housed — in what sort of building and part of town?
We are in the center of the city, but in an area where the majority of the people of Bilbao never enter. Historically, it was a very popular area, but damaged over the decades by drugs, crime and a poor reputation from those who avoid it. Despite of this, people come to ANTI- because we have carry the books they can’t find in other bookstores in Bilbao.

Leer el resto de la entrevista en:

http://www.gestalten.com