he home of Isabella Burley is the perfect apartment for one; it has the tidy but ‘in-use’ effortlessness that art students the world over only dare to dream of. White, with a birchwood table and a medley of kitchen tools and artifacts which blur the lines between art and fashion, the most prominent feature in Burley’s open-plan living room is, nevertheless, books – stapled, bound, or otherwise – in every nook and cranny.
Known for becoming Dazed’s Editor-in-Chief at the age of 24, Burley stepped down earlier this year to work on independent projects, including her very own cult bookstore.
One end of Burley’s table is covered with essays, expelled from her home printer as well as Japanese Magic pens, an open laptop and a sea of post-it notes. The other end is where Burley has set up her production line, using materials she stores in her dishwasher. The wire drawers (there’s space for 20 plates), are comically stuffed with bubble wrap and tapes. Her bookstore, named Climax after the cult‘80s fashion label, is an amalgamation of vintage erotica and other sorts of collection-worthy printed matter.