The best of 2025
In a year that reminded us once again of the value of pause, the beauty of the everyday and the transformative power of ideas, at CC/magazine we have continued to do what we do best: explore contemporary culture with a critical, poetic and deeply visual eye.
Now that 2025 is drawing to a close, we share with you an editorial journey through the year’s highlights: our most read and shared articles, interviews with voices that bring perspective, editorial projects that will continue to grow in 2026, and a curated selection of talents, spaces and creators who — through their approach, authenticity or vision — we believe are shaping today’s most compelling conversations.
But this retrospective is not just ours. In a way, it also reflects what connected us with you this year. Architecture that has restored meaning to what is habitable, destinations that reaffirm purposeful travel, hotels that have crafted experiences without resorting to the predictable. Films that have not chased likes but sought genuine emotion. Books that linger in your thoughts weeks later. Designers who work from the essential. New cultural spaces that interpret the future as collaborative, sustainable and humane.
This year we have organised this universe into ten key categories. Each contains a curated selection — conceived from content, not algorithm. Because at CC/magazine we value the good more than the new. We are not obsessed with novelty, but with relevance. And we publish only projects, brands and themes truly aligned with our values and editorial curation.
Likewise, 2025 has been a year of consolidation and expansion for us. A year in which we reaffirmed that we are not merely a media outlet, but a bilingual editorial platform that champions independent curation, without advertising filters, without noise, without interruptions. Our model remains unchanged: no banners, no disguised ads, no hollow content. And every reader who has journeyed with us confirms it: another way of communicating and creating is still possible.
Among this year’s milestones, the fourth edition of The Unusual Barcelona stands out — having evolved into a hybrid format between guide and magazine, consolidating itself as an editorial project that captures the most stimulating aspects of the city’s creative scene. It is not just a publication — it’s a way of seeing and experiencing Barcelona. In 2025 we have also expanded our points of sale to key spaces such as Monocle Café & Shop (Paris), Under the Cover (Lisbon) and Papercut (Stockholm), bringing our content to an international network that values quality.
We have also strengthened our role as media partners of some of the most relevant art and design festivals in the world, such as NYCxDesign, Barcelona Design Week, Madrid Design Festival, Berlin Design Week, Bilbao Bizkaia Design Week, OFFF Barcelona, CAN Art Fair (Madrid and Ibiza), Forward Festivals and Us by Night, among many others. Being there is important — but telling it with depth is even more so.
Ultimately, this article is an open letter: a present day archive, a thank you and a promise. Because the best of the year is not a list, but an opportunity to look back with perspective and forward with intention.
Welcome to the best of 2025. And, as always, thank you for being with us.
Books
– “Stolen focus” by Johann Hari
– “Teenagers in Their Bedrooms” by Adrienne Salinger
– “Notes for John” by Joan Didion
– “The little book of solitude” by Joost Joossen
– “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” by Ottessa Moshfegh
– “Bread of Angels” by Patti Smith
– 10 books to enjoy this summer
– Sant Jordi 2025: A selection of reads to give and enjoy
Films
– “Flow, a World to Save” by Gints Zilbalodis
– “I Am Martin Parr” by Lee Shulman
– “Adolescence” by Philip Barantini
– “Bugonia” by Yorgos Lanthimos
– “One Battle After Another” by Paul Thomas Anderson
– “Sentimental Value” by Joachim Trier
Destinations and hotels
– Oostende: art, history, sea and Atlantic calm
– Antwerp: a hidden creative gem waiting to be discovered
– Lanzarote, chapter two: returning to the island that never stops surprising
– Dragør and Amagerbro: coastal charm and creative living in Copenhagen
– COMBO Venice: architecture, community and culture in a unique blend
– Paradis Apartment: a Belgian seaside stay filled with art and design
– Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni: a century of elegance in “The Pearl of Lake Como”
– Le Pigalle: Paris’s most authentic (and coolest) design hotel
– Hotel San Roque: history, art, and hospitality with soul on the Atlantic
– Casa de las Flores: the hotel that reimagines Lanzarote with art and soul
Interviews
– Interview with the team at The Eames Institute of Curiosity
– Interview with Benedetta Tagliabue
– Interview with Vasilis Marmatakis
– Interview with Olivia Ricard
– Interview with Pihlmann Architects
– Interview with Maria Massad (ITS A MOOD)
– Interview with Bofill Taller de Arquitectura
– Interview with Josephine Michau (Copenhagen Architecture Biennial 2025)
Inspiration
– Halo, Esther Merinero’s creative retreat
– Solo Travel: A different way to discover the world (and yourself)
– Emotional responsibility at work
– Support your creative friends
– Rumination sabotages our everyday lives
Art
– Oliviero Toscani: the irreverent genius who revolutionised advertising
– The Grand Palais reopens its doors after a historic transformation
– The art of seeing the invisible: Duane Michals and his photographic legacy
– The world of Wes Anderson arrives at London’s Design Museum
– St. Vincents: the Antwerp design space that defies labels
– James Turrell’s new temple of light at ARoS
– The art of the essential: Paris hosts the “MINIMAL” exhibition at the Bourse de Commerce
– Time + Matter: craftsmanship that transcends at Valencia Design Fest 2025
– Romain Laprade: the beauty of silence
– Marta Minujín captivates with “Intensify Life”
Design
– Zieta: Polish innovation redefining contemporary design
– We Are Ona: the art of crafting unrepeatable culinary experiences
– Us By Night 2025: the nocturnal festival turning Antwerp into a creative paradise
– Buchanan Studio: the art of building worlds that inspire
– 3daysofdesign 2025: Design with purpose (1/2)
– Muller Van Severen: when design becomes liveable sculpture
– V&A East Storehouse: London’s new temple of creativity
– Spacon: rethinking design from a human perspective
– AOT Studio: experimental, democratic and sustainable design
– ITS A MOOD debuts with “Curvas”, a furniture collection uniting emotion and material
Architecture
– Studiolo by Hanghar: the art of inhabiting multifunctional space
– Sigla Studio: architecture with memory, spaces with soul
– The Red House of Brok: a Scandinavian gem in the rural heart of Poland
– Ezequiel Pini and the new life of the Semi-Buried House
– The Eames House reopens its doors
– Les Blanches de Payzac: where concrete merges with nature
– Among the trees: the iconic Forest Tower by EFFEKT Architects
– Pailunga: a Tuscan chapel reborn as an artistic residence
– MESURA at Casa Batlló: the second floor’s new life
– Nikolaj Kunsthal: a living dialogue between past and present
Hotspots
– Under: the submerged marvel redefining the dining experience beneath the sea
– El Molino beats again: a new stage for jazz and culture
– The MoMA bookstore lands in Seoul with Hyundai Card
– La Font del Gat: the return of a beloved Barcelona icon
– Alma Nomad Fábrica: a new gastro project designed by Plantea Estudio
– The Art of Gifting: ideas to surprise (and get it right)
– Arquitectura-G x Kaleos: design with an architectural eye
– Good Company: a bookshop where design nurtures connection
– Café Nuances Marais: where coffee becomes futuristic art
– MOGO: Milan’s new sensory temple
Coming next year: more to discover, and even better!
(*) Cover image: CC/studio.
