#5: Eva — Cabins, Design, Entertainment
Curated cabincore, red ink tattoos and a design eye to die for!
I’ve worked with Eva Morell for over nine years at Flipboard — she’s our curator in Spain — and she is among the people I’m proudest to have hired in my career. Why? Her taste is to die for; her personal style is beyond cool; her Instagram Stories and Flipboard curation make me drool, and, thanks to this project, I learned that she has a major obsession with cabins. In fact, she is one of Spain’s top cabin experts and has been covered by Vogue España, Conde Nast Traveler and El Pais and featured on multiple podcasts about cabins (like this one for Vanity Fair España). You HAVE to check out her Substack, El club de la cabaña. Isn’t it amazing?! Don’t you want to retreat to one right now??
Eva! I've always seen you as a tastemaker. Do you think of yourself as that?
Ah, not really. A lot of people tell me that, but I don't think I am. I just talk about the things I love. And it seems that others do the same thing. I don't consider myself someone like that, but I'm glad others do. I think I'm doing something good.
Absolutely. You have such an amazing eye. Part of what is so intoxicating about your taste is how you package what you love and share. How does design play into what you do?
I've always been a person who loves design and beautiful things. Since I was a teenager, I designed my books and notebooks for school; I put paper and photographs and everything. This is something that I've been doing all my life. Most of it comes from inside of me. It is not something I learn or something I've been working on. It's something I do in my mind all the time.
What are the things that really light you up?
I'm really obsessed with cabins, but I also love architecture. I love good design. I was a graphic designer, so I love typography. I love illustration.
Having said that, furniture and architecture are my main obsessions. And cabins.
What’s so special about cabins?
The feeling of being around nature. The silence and thinking about that as an escape from reality, an escape from the city, the noise, the people, and work. Escape from your everyday routine. Some people do yoga or mindfulness. For me, this connection is occurring in an imaginary place where you can rest, read, listen to music, travel and forget about work for five minutes.
Do you own a cabin?
I'd like to. Maybe in five, six years. For now, I rent them.
Where would you like to own one?
I'd love to have one in maybe Norway or Sweden…the paradise of cabins. I’d love a beach cabin too.
What feeds your inspiration?
Navigating the Internet. I read a lot about nature: novels, essays, storybooks…for example, 📕 Walden. Stories about cabin culture and cabincore, but not necessarily about the building itself — about nature, astronomy, even music and the way different artists I discover might [fit] into a cabin [lifestyle]. This is not conscious, but my daily routine is based on cabins. Everything I see, my head clicks: ‘Oh, this is for cabins.’
What are your goals with your newsletter, El club de la cabaña?
Having a place for everything I find about cabins. The newsletter was born because I was sharing a lot about cabins on Instagram and Twitter. After four years, I realized that I needed a beautiful place to put everything so it wouldn't get lost on the Internet, in Stories or whatever. I found that the newsletter was an interesting place to write and curate these kinds of things. And I realized that people love that.
How do you find cabins that haven’t been discovered yet?
It's almost impossible. I follow like 50 Instagram accounts about cabins. I am a writer for Conde Nast Traveler, so I have lots of press releases about cabins and about traveling in nature. Also, I check Airbnb daily. It’s a constant process, looking for information.
Tell me: what’s your favorite cabin media? (Aside from your own, natch.)
🌲 This book, this magazine and of course the cabin bible is this Instagram account.
We've talked a lot about cabins, but now I want to know, specifically, five things that you think other people should read, watch, hear, do, etc.
📕 “Normal People” by Sally Rooney
She was one of my discoveries last year. I didn't know her, and I really loved Normal People.
🍿 “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
The craziness of this film is amazing. You have scifi, drama and great actors. You don't know what's happening next and this is what I love about this movie — the surprise effect.
🎞 “The Menu”
A really good thriller. I'm obsessed with food and with Michelin stars so this film was amazing and scary.
📺 “Your Honor”
I'm watching season two right now. Wow. It's so interesting how your life can change in a moment, you start doing things you'd never imagine to protect the people you love. It's intense. Bryan Cranston has a unique taste when choosing his roles, and he is perfect for this one.
It’s a Spanish online shop, but she also ships abroad.. She’s from Barcelona. And she makes towels for the bathroom, carpets, everything artisan, lots of colors. And I think she's really amazing. I love the styles she has.
🎶 Boy Genius
I recently discovered a new project by Phoebe Bridgers and other girls. I am really, really obsessed with their EP.
I wanted to ask you also about your tattoos. You're the first person I ever met who used red ink! Tell me about that decision.
I'm a huge fan of 🎶 Incubus and I love their singer, Brandon Boyd. He was like my platonic love when I was young. And he has red tattoos on his arms. When I was 15 or 16 years old, I decided that if I had a tattoo, it would be red because of him.
[Shows me her arms] I have, for example, good luck, a heart, a house. I have my cat as an astronaut from the 50s. This is my Chinese horoscope…I have the tree of life…
One of my favorites is this one [the hand], I have a Pyramid and a bee because I believe that the pyramids were in fact built by aliens, and this is my personal connection to the universe.
Mia’s Queue is a free newsletter featuring an ordinary person with extraordinary taste. Subscribe to get posts like this in your inbox every other Thursday.
In case you haven’t noticed, I love people with good taste! In fact, I have a podcast about it for Flipboard. Check it out!