In 2015 Paddy Butler helped set up Libreria Bookshop as part of startup incubator Second Home. He served
as creative director of Libreria for five years building the brand identity through a rich, diversity-led cultural
programme. Designed by internationally renowned Spanish architects SelgasCano, the space was created
to reimagine what a booskshop could be. With broad themes such as Brain & Being, Bad Feminist, Africana,
Time & Space, Libreria playfully disregards conventional bookshop layout to enhance more serendipitous
discovery.
The cultural programme welcomed a variety of guest speakers to Libreria including Marcus du Sautoy, Dr
Sophie Scott, Gary Younge, Michael Chabon, Reni Eddo-Lodge and Franklin Foer. While The Libreria Podcast
further relfected this approach welcoming novelists Bret Easton Ellis, Ottessa Moshfegh and Bernardine
Evaristo (having launched Girl, Woman, Other at Libreria, Bernardine subsequently went on to win the 2018
Booker Prize), as well as esteemed scientist Carlo Rovelli, and conceptual artists such as Conrad Shawcross
and James Bridle.
Libreria enjoyed huge success as a night venue hosting magazine and `zine (risograph collaboration) launches
with djs, live music and screenings. Art installations in the space included 'Sweaty Nights' by Marie Jacotey (with riso 'zine collaboration) and a 7 hour Steve Reinke
video installation for ArtNight London, 2016. A series of analogue electronic music workshops with
celebrated producer, CY AN, magically expanded on this philosophy of cultural exploration and discovery. But Libreria's primary succss was rooted
in the fact that it provided a platform for a broad variety
of artists from diverse backgrounds to express themselves – including emerging LGBTQ+ artists and
spoken word British Carribean/ British African poets.
