Cecilia Miranda expresses herself in a multitude of ways. She is a food and lifestyle photographer, a designer, an art director and a business owner. The store she owns is a home accessory shop specializing in cookware in Buenos Aires. Her energy is limitless and she always seems to have something creative going on, while giving a gentle and mild-mannered impression. “Being creative is very fulfilling. I am very happy and satisfied in my life,” she says.

She clearly follows her motto, which is: ‘Always listen and be true to yourself.’

Her home is in the leafy area of Palermo Hollywood. It’s a spacious three-bedroom apartment of about 200 square metres* with two large terraces, and she shares it with her two daughters, Mercedes and Manuela. They have lived here for two years now and have recently renovated it. The apartment is freshly painted and there is nothing yet on the walls. The door out to the patio is open and the light is flowing in. The old furniture contrasts well with the modern lines and the apartment feels serene. Her daughters’ rooms both face the street, but Cecilia’s bedroom is a separate small house across the patio. One flight of stairs above the apartment is the spacious rooftop terrace that’s embedded in the greenery of the trees that border the street below. Here are tables and armchairs where you can enjoy the summer evenings.

She loves the tactile sensation of things. The rough surface of a tabletop. The nice textile covers and exquisite paper of the books on the coffee table. This trait or sensibility also translates well into her photography. She captures the feeling of textures into her images so well that you can experience the smoothness of a fabric or savour the taste of a crumbling cake just by looking at the photos.

“I’m a visual person and I need to feel things,” she says. “But I want them to be aesthetically pleasing too. Even when I was a small girl and everybody sat down at the table and started eating, I wouldn’t start to eat before I had composed my food so that it was beautiful on my plate.”

“My style is pared down and simple,” she continues. “I have few things, but everything I have I either love or they mean something to me. The only thing I change are the textiles depending on the season. In spring and summer I use lighter colours. The greatest feature here is the light. I like that the apartment is very bright.”

“Would you say that your home reflects who you are?” I ask.
“Yes I believe it does. But my store does that too and they are quite the opposite of each other. The store is very busy, chaotic and stimulating in many ways. It’s where I create and where I have my photo shoots. And my home is very quiet. Here I need the visual calmness it offers. Both of them have the contrasts that I crave, chaos and calmness.”

This is an excerpt from the book Home Life Around the World and is one of the unique and personal homes I visited.

Release date 15th May.
Home Life Around the World is available for pre-order in iBooks store, Kobo and Google Play. ISBN 978-91-984455-1-0
The book is also available for pre-order in the Kindle format. ASIN: B079VDPBVF
Print edition ISBN 978-91-984455-0-3

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer