A BLUEPRINT FOR: a week in Mexico City

The galleries, restaurants, shops and bars that make this one of my favorite cities.

Wearstlerworld,

I’m just back from Mexico City, checking out this year’s edition of Zona Maco. And every time I go, I’m really hit hard by how much I love it. Again and again—it’s one of those cities that can reveal so many layers.

The culture and creativity is really world-class, and world-influencing. And, the people. Some of my favorite ever collaborations are with artists, restaurateurs, architects and graphic designers living here in CDMX. My latest collaboration with them is sort of this guide. Because it’s from those amazing minds that I’ve been introduced to this city, and it’s really their suggestions that sit below.

My connections to this city are all in relationships I hold dear, and people I trust to guide me (and you!):

I first had the great privilege of working on a hotel in Mayakoba with the late Ricardo Legorreta (a project that sadly was never completed). He was just an incredible and imaginative architect, and such a generous and amazing collaborator. And it was also at his studio that I ended up the legendary Pedro Freideberg, whose Hand Chair I had, and whose drawings I had started to collect. This visit, I finally got to tour Pedro’s house—and I’ll share some images below.)

Or Gabriela Cámara, the chef behind perpetually-”It” restaurant Contramar (more on her latest venture also in this guide), which is simply perfect, with whom I worked on a restaurant for the Proper Hotel. And, it was at Contramar I had lunch with my friend, the designer and entrepreneur Héctor Esrawe, whom I’ve already hyped up a lot in this Substack.

The list goes on really. Zélika García, the founder of the art fair Zona Maco (I bought two pieces, more on that below). Pedro Reyes, whom I also visited, is someone whose work I also put into projects and collect myself. And, Rafael Prieto of Savvy Studio, whom I met a few years back totally by chance, and who actually did the Wearstlerworld branding—and now we’re working on more.

In any case—here’s my version of CDMX, as seen through their collective eyes.