Schahrazade Halfaoui finds freedom from digital overload in Libreria.
A new bookshop that aims to help customers disengage from the digital world has launched in East London. At Libreria on Hanbury Street, ‘browsing’ means looking through books and customers are banned from using mobile phones.
Designed by the award-winning Spanish architectural practice Selgas Cano, the space inside draws inspiration from Jorge Borges’ short story ‘The Library of Babel’.
Liberia, which simply means ‘bookshop’ in Spanish and Italian, is located opposite Second Home, one of East London’s many spaces for entrepreneurs and creative businesses.
The new book shop, which comes with an associated printing press, is designed to make you fall in love with books again. A record player and a whiskey bar add to the book-soaked atmosphere – a welcome sanctuary from the superficiality of all that that digital noise.
Further information: http://www.libreria.io