He likes to see the bright side of life. Her friends say that she is overly optimistic. She recognizes herself as a dreamer, she believes that if one dreams hard, dreams come true. She is also a treasure hunter in all orders. “I am very curious and emotional. Avid reader, I really like to know, investigate, have foundations. I am very clueless and hyperactive. I like getting lost in the city, meeting people who have totally different lives from mine, interviewing characters”, she says.
Silvina Bidabehere He studied Social Communication and worked in travel magazines. She later ventured into the world of design, decoration and brandstyling, and created her Decortherapy blog, one of the first on this subject. She is an art director, brand identity and communication consultant, and curator of design shows and events. She also teaches production seminars and other communication and trend seminars with Mariana Rapoport.
News: How did your passion for design and decoration begin?
Silvina Bidabehere: My mother studied architecture and at home there were many books on architecture and she also received decoration, travel and gastronomy magazines. I loved the publishing world. Also, mom liked to have a nice, cheerful house, there were always flowers, the fire lit, the tea table, there was always something delicious to eat, friends were very welcome, everyone came to my house. It was the enjoyment indoors. I sucked all that.
News: What motivates you, what makes you passionate about what you do today?
Bidabehere: I am passionate about working with creatives, with artists, I am passionate about the creative process itself, going to workshops, being a spokesperson for designers, discovering talent, linking people, kicking around the city.
News: His work is related to the beautiful. What is beauty to you?
Bidabehere: It is a subjective act, what makes you happy, what excites you. Many people have the prejudice that what is aesthetically beautiful is sometimes superficial. The beauty is also to create spaces where you feel good, put candles, flowers, music, a light or an armchair that you like. You are generating beauty and it has nothing to do with the superficial but with the experience you live in that place.
News: What is style?
Bidabehere: Having style is being authentic with what one is regardless of the look of the other. We live in a time where the look of others is very important to us. We dress and put our houses for the gaze of others. When I see someone who I think is elegant or cool, he is someone true to himself.
News: Is it difficult to be authentic?
Bidabehere: Super difficult and more in this society because we are very predetermined by the look of others.
News: Is good taste subjective?
Bidabehere: Yes, although there are things that are objective. When you see someone very well dressed you say: What good taste he has. It also has to do with what that person projects. It happens with houses, the beauty and magic of a house is in what is not seen, it is in the desire to stay in that place. Sometimes you go to photographically spectacular houses and you don’t want to stay there, there is something that makes you want to leave, that you don’t feel that warmth of home.
News: How is your house?
Bidabehere: It is chaotic, it is not minimalist, it is not designer. In my house, emotional decoration weighs heavily. I have inherited furniture that I recycled, things that make me excited to have, like the dining room table that was the one that was in my house as a girl, many books, works by artists that I meet and by people that I love, many candles, libraries, much color. I am recycling it little by little, making changes to it and transforming it into the house that I want to have.
News: Does it have magic?
Bidabehere: For me if. I love being in my house and it is not the biggest, nor the prettiest nor the most tidy. It’s my nest, I like it to hug me. I really enjoy being there, it didn’t cost me anything to be home in the pandemic. I was happy without leaving my house. I don’t get bored, I always have something to do, I like to take care of my garden, cook, sit all afternoon reading or doing the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. I have my rituals and I like to have them.
News: Less is more?
Bidabehere: Depends. If you are a frugal person, surely less will be more. But if it doesn’t depend on what that minus is. Less than? Less color, less books. It does seem to me that sometimes there is a need to comply with certain canons of what a house is expected to be, because we are very concerned about the other’s gaze.
News: Is there excess of minimalism?
Bidabehere: No, on the contrary, I think that today there is less minimalism than ten years ago. I go to houses where there is more interest in art, in having color on the walls, murals. Fashions arise from something cultural, because it changes the way of life.
News: How did the trends change?
Bidabehere: Speaking of houses, they became much more livable and lived-in places. The living rooms and kitchens were opening up. Today people are received in the kitchen and twenty years ago it was just an operational place, without grace, without soul. You didn’t invite your friend to have a wine while you cooked. Today you don’t have a velvet armchair but one with a cover that is washed and not ironed. And you knocked down the kitchen wall to communicate with the living room and you made a bar for your friends to eat a snack while you cook. So, Design trends are being created because they respond to something previous. That’s what’s interesting to investigate.
News: What change are you seeing now?
Bidabehere: There is an attempt to conquer one’s own identity within the houses. We all want to have unique houses and put a special touch on it, something we did or something we found, that we discovered. That is why so many entrepreneurships and artistic projects arise. There is also a fervor for collecting and emerging art. And today it is more important why we buy than what we buy. Many people are interested in knowing what is behind a brand and buying brands that support certain values, buying handcrafted objects, paying a fair price.
News: How is identity created?
Bidabehere: It is a path of self-knowledge, discovering what you like. But there are also many people who are not interested in decoration, design or having an artistic house and that is perfect, it is super valid. Each one puts his eye on what excites him.
News: For example, in literature. She confesses to being an avid reader. What does she read?
Bidabehere: Fiction. I really like the English authors of the 19th century, the time of the South Group in Argentina, Silvina and Victoria Ocampo, Bioy, Borges, not to mention, my great love, the classics. I am now reading “Memoirs of Hadrian” by Marguerite Yourcenar. I am enrolled in a book club and I really like to shop in used bookstores. I like to find treasures.
News: She is a seeker.
Bidabehere: Yes, I am a treasure hunter. I like to find the little ball lost at the end of a gallery and go in to see what’s there. I love touring the city, discovering places and sitting down to eat alone.
News: How is your affective world?
Bidabehere: I have been married for almost twenty years to Juan Cavanagh, he works in finance, but he loves the countryside and the horses, he is very easygoing, he has no networks, I admire him very much, he is very good, very noble, simple, low profile.
News: You say that you are a reckless mother. Because?
Bidabehere: Because I’m goofy. I am a very tan mother, I like to take care of my children – Juan (17) and Carlos (16) – and they suffer from me a bit. I’m very heavy, I force them to read the newspaper aloud to me because I want them to read well. But we get along well, they are really good, and I have a lot of fun with them.
News: Listening to her, you get the impression that she is having a good time in life.
Bidabehere: Yes, and it’s not that I don’t have problems. I try to be happy, I like to see the bright side of life. Many times I hit the wall because I dream all the time. I feel that if one dreams hard, things happen. My friends say that I am overly optimistic.
Acknowledgments: Ascolta, Elementos Argentinos and House Dos Buenos Aires.
