Behind the Shelves of IDEA with Angela Hill
How to get stocked at DSM, Making Winona Ryder hats, working at Comme des Garçons, and more.
Last month while in London, I was fortunate enough to visit IDEA for the first time. If you aren’t familiar, IDEA is a rare book and magazine shop in the heart of Soho, which up until recently was open by appointment only.
Housing a collection with some of the most rare fashion and photography books I’ve ever seen, IDEA is universally respected by creatives from the film, music, and fashion industries - hosting everyone from the likes of Alessandro Michele to Kanye West.
Upon entering, I was immediately cast into a conversation with Angela, who co-founded the business with her husband David. After a long discussion of everything from her engagement in Iceland to west coast living and wildlife, we somehow ended up laughing (squeamishly) about the deer that fell into my mothers pool a few years back.
Angela’s suggestion for the casting of a film about my mother and the deer: “If ever there is a film script to wrap around that - there is one … lead actor would ideally be an older Sam Sheppard, actress Meg Tilly “.
What are you up to right now?
I’m in Paris for Paris Fashion Week. There are one billion events every minute and about the same amount of texts, telegrams, whatsapps, emails and DMs - far from making life simple I think the internet and social media make it a lot more dissected, scattered and urgent somehow.
The weather here is overcast and has been raining for two days solid. I left umbrella in a giant supermarket today too. All of that said, my mood is good and I had a calming hour in the very wonderful OGATA today. A Japanese company has taken over an entire building in Rue Debellyme. It’s another world.
What's a typical day for you?
A typical day; wake up and do 20 minutes of meditation. Take medications. Feel sick from medications. Pick up the phone and computer and answer the standard one million questions etc that have come in. Wash, dress, and out the door (after giving my precious Hydrangeas a drink… I am obsessed with them but they need care and attention and I think I give them more attention than I ever gave my two children) then tube as we call it to work then in IDEA offices and not out again until at least 6pm.
Go home via tube and go to the supermarket. Cook, make copious (and I MEAN copious) pots of tea (with real tea leaves thank you), move away from computer for a while to sit in living room relaxing with dessert and more tea and every day doing the Daily Telegraph quick and cryptic crosswords.
Back to the computer and phone for a while then finally collapse into bed then getting out again reluctantly 35 minutes later as I forgot to brush my teeth.
What were you doing before IDEA?
Being a photographer.
How did you meet your partner David? How do you split the work at IDEA?
Met him at a bric-à-brac antique market outside London.
David does the Instagram and newsletters and a bit of everything else. I buy and sell books for the stores and generally float around the building, asking anything of the staff from buying milk to editing and publishing books.
How did you work with Dover Street begin?
I was working with Comme des Garçons then straight out of college, so the link had always been there really; but I started selling books to Colette and the owner of Colette said you should have a space in DSM, which was just opened and it worked from there to become us having a space in every DSM worldwide.
One thing that struck me was how your Soho shop was laid out. The reading room with drinks and cookies felt very calming - almost like I was at home, instead of a bookshop. Is this intentional?
Totally. I hate smelly old bookshops where the stock doesn’t change from one year to the next. I like serenity, peace, BACH and PHILIP GLASS, making people feel exactly like they are in a cosy, comforting, intelligent good looking space - every sensory feeling to be nourished.
What sparked the interest for an apparel line?
I wanted to do a bag with WINONA on it as I thought it would be good to do a line of book bags and later hats, t-shirts etc with 80s icons. KEANU followed and then we branched out to all sorts of collaborations. The one I am most proud of was WIM WENDERS and our PARIS TEXAS range.
What is the biggest misconception about the shop?
They think the shop is going to be huge. We have three floors of a huge building and a storage unit filled with books and magazines, but we prefer to heavily edit for the shop/ a good filtration system.
What would surprise people about IDEA?
I don’t know what would surprise people. We are not bookdealers. We come from the worlds of fashion, photography, tv and film production.
We just happen to sell books.
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The IDEA website is ideanow.online. Their Instagram is @idea.ltd.