The bookstore specializes in subjects like art, design, fashion, and theory, while also showcasing Mexican artists and makers.
Casa Bosques opened its doors in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City just over ten years ago. The result of a dinner party conversation between Rafael Prieto and Jorge de la Garza, it’s a bookstore that specializes in subjects like art, design, fashion, and theory, with some literature, sourced from established to independent publishers. It began as a novel space in the area, offering an international selection to cultural lovers of the city. As Mexico City has grown to attract more tourists, the store’s focus shifted to showcase Mexican authors, artists, and makers as well.
Today, Casa Bosques also hosts a unique artisanal chocolate atelier, where artists like Pedro Reyes, Harold Ancart, and Jonathan Monk have created limited-edition bars. Whitewall spoke with de la Garza and Prieto (also the founder of Savvy Studio) about looking back on the past decade, and ahead to what’s next.
Rafael Prieto and Jorge de la Garza.
WHITEWALL: What was your initial vision for Casa Bosques over ten years ago?
RAFAEL PRIETO: I kept going to all these bookstores and magazine stores when I was abroad. One day we were having dinner speaking about this. I had found this space that was going to be our studio. The idea was, “Why don’t we do an art bookstore there?”
Jorge has been curating the selection of publishers and publications we have. I’m more focused on design and architecture. And it has evolved through time. We stayed true to what we tried to do from the very beginning, slowly defining this concept.
JORGE DE LA GARZA: There wasn’t this sort of bookstore in Mexico City at the time like the ones we’d experienced in other cities and we wanted to do. I had an MA in fine art. Rafael had that business knowledge and then I was just fresh working at some libraries. I had the confidence to do a selection. We did it, and miraculously it still exists.
WW: Rafael, you said you already had the space. What was it like, and how did you want the design of the bookstore to feel?
RP: It was always about something that would feel like home, really welcoming, come and sit and read and find pieces. At the beginning, creating community was quite important for us. In the beginning, Mexico was not as open as it is now, so it was more about bringing all these publications into the city and embracing the community.
The house had a very warm feel to it. Everything feels like a living room. We have always wanted to keep it that way, for the people in the neighborhood to come and hang, for the pure purpose of getting a book.
JDLG: Savvy did the interior design, which is all based around wood as an element that is warm.
Casa Bosques bookshop, photo by Adrianna Glaviano.
WW: And how did you go about selecting the kinds of books, the genres of books to include?
JDLG: It was about taking into account the context, the city, and consolidating the independent publishing scene here because it was also booming since before we started the project. That was another priority. We didn’t have that much literature or poetry before, which is something we’re expanding now. For me, because the space is limited, it’s very important to take that into account. We can’t have everything.
RP: The bookstore started to respond to what’s happening with Mexico City, which now has a lot of visitors, but we did not have that when we started. So now, it is very relevant for us to push the Latin American publications. We found we now have two strong markets, the locals and the visitor that is trying to understand the culture in Mexico, in Latin America. I think that’s when things became more interesting and more dynamic as well, by having these layers of ways to communicate with different people that are looking for something. That really marked the evolution of Casa Bosques.
“It was always about something that would feel like home, really welcoming, come and sit and read and find pieces,” — Rafael Prieto
WW: Have you seen independent publishers get more ambitious or conceptual with the kinds of books they are publishing?
RP: Definitely. I think we get a lot of conceptual publications, especially because we are also involved in doing the Index Art Book Fair. That’s when you find interesting books, artist exercises, smaller editions that artists are making themselves. There are many publications that are specific, and we give space for those publications that go beyond the format of the classic book.
Casa Bosques bookshop, photo by Adrianna Glaviano.
WW: And how does the chocolate atelier fit in to it all?
RP: Behind the bookstore we have a chocolate atelier. It’s a very specific practice as well, and quite experimental while being very traditional in the technique of making the chocolate. It feels like an edition that is not an edition. This has been based through relationships we have with friends and artists. We decide the flavor, the cover, the material, all of these elements. It’s not even a collaboration; it’s an exercise. Like Lawrence Weiner—four years ago we worked on something together because he was having a show in Mexico in Oaxaca.
JDLG: The chocolates have a very editorial feel, and there’s this connection to artist editions, multiples. I think it’s brilliant to consider chocolate as a material for an artist.
Casa Bosques bookshop, photo by Adrianna Glaviano.
