Where They Create: Paul Barbera
Desk porn for all you workspace voyeurs.
MARCOS DAVIDSON, JEWELLER, MELBOURNE
Inhaling the rich antique mahogany of our antique writing desks and observing the plebs going about their unsatisfying lives from the rarefied heights of Oyster's ivory tower, it's easy to forget that there's more to a workspace than reclining in plush velvet work chairs and contemplating adjectives over a fine single malt. Sure, it's hard work, but someone's got to get those magazines onto the shelves! Photographer Paul Barbera, the man at the helm of addictive workspace website Where They Create, understands that where we produce our craft is just as important as the final product. His work captures the environments in which creatives birth and nurture their ideas.
HELEEN KLOPPER, ARTIST, Netherlands
Born in Melbourne, Barbera has marinated his art in both hemispheres. Where They Create spans the globe and artistic disciplines, gratifying the voyeur in all of us with subjects that run the gamut of fashion, fine art, design and even music. Where Todd Selby captures people at their most candid, Paul Barbera captures them at their most creative. Highlights of Where They Create will be recorded in a book of the same name, due for release in September, featuring a selection of previously unpublished images of workspaces, including that of Opening Ceremony and Wallpaper.
FANTASTIC MAN, NETHERLANDS
What is particularly special about Where They Create is how Barbera captures the little nuances that make each workspace unique to their individual owner - the remarkable view of Honk Kong Harbour from milliner Jaycow's studio, warm thankyou notes scrawled by Tom Ford at the offices of Fantastic Man magazine, the perky terrier atop Sydney artist Paul Davies' work desk. They are small but ultimately satisfying glimpses into the spaces that shape the oeuvres of their inhabitants.
JAYCOW, MILLINER, HONG KONG
PRINTINK, SCREEN PRINTERS AND TEXTILE DESIGNERS, AUSTRALIA
Words: Lillian McKnight
Photos: Paul Barbera
