Home as our haven
The pandemic has changed views and preferences for personal spaces
Since taking over the top job in 2016, Amy Astley, now global editorial director for Architectural Digest, has expanded the brand's digital presence across every platform and format. Some of the things she has initiated have been increasing the magazine's social footprint, producing a Youtube series and writing a book, AD at 100: A Century of Style.
Her editorial experience came from a career in the areas of art, design and fashion, including five years at House & Garden and nearly a decade at Vogue. Astley was the founding editor of Teen Vogue, launched in 2003, where she helped build a lifestyle brand that continues to expand.
Astley answered some reader questions:
Q What are some of the biggest trends you're seeing regarding how people are changing their homes during the pandemic? What has made the biggest difference for people?
A There are so many changes, and they will last. We're seeing designated spaces for work from home, school from home and gym from home. People who can afford more space will want more space. Outdoor space is critical. People might think twice about living in glass towers where the windows don't open. People want fresh air and open windows. Natural light, nature, space to isolate sick people, a shift away from open plan. We see people really investing in home and appreciating interior design and professional services. Also, a movement away from cold minimalism toward a cosier, warmer and more personal environment.
Q How do you see the role of Architectural Digest going forward? How long will there be a print edition?
A AD feels more relevant than ever, as the whole world is sheltering at home and feeling both grateful for their home and perhaps a bit motivated to improve aspects to make it function or look better. Our digital audiences, traffic, social media followers, Youtube views, e-commerce have all exploded during the pandemic as audiences look for inspiration, ideas, and entertainment, too. Print absolutely lives at AD. It's a vital, prestigious and lucrative piece of our business, but the magazine is also the centre of our universe. All the other businesses, such as digital, events and books, are spokes off that centre. Our print subscriptions are up.
Q What's trending for 2021?
A Lots more shopping for home online. It's on fire as we all fixate on improving the spaces we're confined to.
Q How do you select homes and architectural structures to feature in the magazine?
A The other editors and I spend a lot of our time each day following leads from designers, architects, people who work in the industry and celebrity homes. We look at all projects closely and choose based on many different factors: We like geographic diversity, different kinds of spaces — apartments, houses, large, small, city, country — and we show many styles — classic, modern, avant-garde, minimal and eclectic. We look for “best in class” projects — a top example of doing minimalism might be Axel Vervoordt, for example. We like a range. Some houses will be a big hit in print, others on social media, still others on Youtube.
Q How do you think millennials will change the look of homes as they grow older and start families?
A They won't soon forget the lessons of the pandemic. I expect this intense and difficult experience to affect lifestyle for decades to come. Overall, a real sense of the comfort of home and the importance of home will last. These younger people will invest in their nest to make it their haven.
Q I need to replace all the outdated ceramic tile and carpets in my house. I would love hardwood but can't have it because of the cement subfloor. I'm trying to decide whether to use wood-like porcelain tile or wood-look luxury vinyl plank. A I had a similar issue and we eventually put down cork floors. Cork is warm, comfortable underfoot and not super expensive.
Q How has the pandemic changed the role of interior designers and how they work?
A I think the people are appreciating professionals more than ever. I think people are really understanding how vital their home is, and that investing in a professional might be a good idea.
Certain things in life are better when they're breezy. A cute sundress, for example, or a cheerful “hello.” Cold air from a door? Not so much.
No surprise, then, that this is the season for air-sealing. Not only will finding those air-leakage points keep your home cosy, it'll also save you money. Aside from doors, other common culprits include the small gaps around windows, baseboards and wall sockets.
“Air leakage represents 25 to 40 per cent of the heat lost from an older home,” says the 2007 Natural Resources Canada guide Air-leakage Control. “This costs you hundreds of dollars per year whether you heat with natural gas, oil or electricity.”
First, you need to find those pesky air leaks. The Government of Canada website suggests holding burning incense sticks up to the suspected area. Strong leaks will make the smoke dissipate and the tips of the incense will glow. Slower leaks will cause the smoke to trail away or move toward the leak.
While projects like replacing windows and DIY caulking are effective against air leakages, there are other relatively easy fixes. Here are a few that lifestyle and interior design website Apartment Therapy deems the best:
1. Suptikes Door Draft Stopper ($34.67 at Amazon.ca)
This easy-to-use adhesive silicone stopper has 4.5 stars based on 7,806 ratings at Amazon.ca, and comes in a two-pack. Measuring 37 inches (94 centimetres) long, it can fit air gaps up to one inch (2.5 millimetres) and works with exterior and interior doors, garage doors, and shower doors — as well as furnishings like beds, sofas and cabinets, among other places.
2. Duck Brand Indoor 5-Window Shrink Film Insulator Kit ($19.72 at Amazon.ca)
Boasting an Amazon's Choice endorsement, this kit is a great option if you don't mind keeping your windows shut for the season. Once you secure the seethrough film around the edges of your window frame, you use a blow dryer to heat-shrink it to the frame, creating a tight seal. The kits also come in a package that will seal three windows, and a package designed for a patio door or large window.
3. BRIVIC Indoor Air Conditioner Cover ($66.32 at Amazon.ca)
Window-mounted air-conditioners are a godsend in the summer, but if they have to stay put during the colder months they can be a sneaky source of air leaks. Wrap it up with this adjustable cover, which slips over the unit and is kept in place with tension cords. “Fit perfectly and reduced airflow greatly,” wrote one reviewer. “Well made and easy to install.” The covers are available in various sizes and colours.
4.
Evelots Dog Draft Stopper ($58.30 at Amazon.ca)
This cute-as-a-button draft-stopper is a classic weighted option that's simple to drop into place, or remove as needed. At 37 inches (94 cm) long, it will work at the bottom of most doors. It also comes in a cat version. As one reviewer succinctly put it: “Good quality. Does its job. Wife thinks it's cute.”
Women were creating, in this court, some of the newest jurisprudence that has happened around war crimes against women since The Iliad, really. Author Kim Echlin
There came a point during Kim Echlin's extensive research for her new novel when it felt like she was literally hearing voices of the women crying out from the warcrimes testimonies she read.
The author was working on Speak, Silence, the followup to 2015's Under the Visible Life. It tells the story of a journalist, Gota, who journeys to Sarajevo to cover the fallout from the Bosnian war in 1999, but eventually finds herself witnessing a landmark international tribunal at The Hague. The Foca case, which took place in 2000, was in response to thousands of atrocities against women during the Yugoslav wars from 1992 to 1999 when centres were set up as rape camps. Women witnesses came from all over the world for a trial that lasted nine months.
It produced many documents, which Echlin pored over in the 10 years she spent working on the novel. There were court transcripts and endless reports from psychologists, the United Nations, women's groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOS).
“When you are in the middle of it, it is really powerful,” says Echlin from her home in Toronto. “There were a couple of moments where the intellectual experience, the absorbing of materials through paper, starts to resonate differently.”
While in Sarajevo, for instance, she went to the offices of The Association of Women Victims of War, an NGO that works on prosecuting perpetrators in Bosnia and gives information to international courts. She met the organization's founder, Bakira Hasecic, who was raped by soldiers during the Bosnian War. She showed the author walls and walls of files: each one representing the testimony of a woman; each one holding unbelievable horrors.
“You look at these walls and think this whole place is resounding with women's stories if you open these vast packages of paper,” says Echlin. “She was really interesting. She was very, very powerful and generous (sharing) her experience with me. Because there is this element of reliving each time you tell ... She said, and this is what powerfully affected me, `I need people not to forget. I need the world not to forget.' So all that work she's done collecting those stories, documenting, putting them in files, trying to get them out to the world is really the most important thing for her. As a writer, as a storyteller, when you hear that you think, `How can I turn from this?'”
The Foca case was groundbreaking because, for the first time, an international legal body declared that rape in war is a crime against humanity. Echlin felt a responsibility to history and to the brave women who broke their silence even though it often led to them being ostracized from their cultures and community.
But Speak, Silence is not a history book. While perhaps meticulously researched, it's still a work of fiction. For Echlin, that means it represents a different way of remembering these women and their experiences than through documents or non-fiction writing.
“What you do in fiction is much different from what you do in non-fiction,” Echlin says. “You are asking the reader to let the material flow through their bodies and their emotions. The memorializing is different because it then becomes universal. When we carve a particular name on a particular gravestone, that is firmly rooted in history. But when you transmute that experience into a fictional character, you are letting it be a more broadly shared emotional experience.”
In the novel, Gota initially goes to Sarajevo to reconnect with a former lover named Kosmos. He introduces her to Edina, a lawyer determined to expose the sexual violence that she and thousands of others endured. Gota becomes fascinated with the woman and travels to The Hague to witness the tribunal.
While Echlin spent years examining documents and reports, her research went beyond reading. She also travelled to Sarajevo and enlisted the help of a guide named Salam, a former soldier who fought in the siege of Sarajevo. A version of Salam appears in the novel as Mak, who Gota hires to drive her around Sarajevo.
“He created a fantastic tour company that he called Sarajevo Funky Tours: Breaking Prejudice,” she says. “There were a lot of times when I would ask him if he would take me here or there or to this particular crime site. But he also impressed his own personality. The very first thing we did was visit his brother's grave. He did not say `We're going to visit my brother's grave.' He just drove us to a graveyard. We went and looked at it and I said `Why are we here?' He said `That's where my brother is.' This is the kind of feeling tone that you can't get just through paper research and internet research.”
Echlin's best-known work is probably 2009's Giller shortlisted The Disappeared. It was her third novel and also dealt with war, setting a love story between a Canadian woman and exiled Cambodian musician against the backdrop of the Khmer Rouge's brutal purge.
Speak, Silence also sprang from her interest in a conflict on the other side of the world. Echlin says it was the visceral, heartbreaking news reports from Sarajevo during the war that first caught her attention before she narrowed her focus.
“At the time, I was just amazed that we were watching a war unfold live,” she says. “But then, the particular case that I became interested in for this story was all dominated by women: Women witnesses, women prosecutors, researchers. Women were creating, in this court, some of the newest jurisprudence that has happened around war crimes against women since The Iliad, really. These courageous women were coming to the court and they were speaking up and they were testifying in courts of law. They were doing that because they could. It was one of those stories I couldn't put aside.
“Then I realized the longer I worked on this material there was a second layer going on that was deeply personal. It was a more generalized silencing of women that I was carrying inside. It was the silencing of women's importance in war, but also their sexuality, their motherhood, their nurturing. You write a book like this out of historical research, but you also write it out of emotional experience. I was compelled once I began to feel these different layers vibrating together. I really had to work on this story.”