Private company

Frame Publishers

Publisher of design, architecture and visual culture books and magazines

FRAME (stylized in all caps, with the "E" often mirror-reversed on its cover) is an international magazine and publishing platform covering interior design, architecture, and spatial design. It is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and is published by Frame Publishers. The magazine was founded in 1997 by Robert Thiemann and Peter Huiberts.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

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The story

History

FRAME was launched in December 1997 in Amsterdam by Thiemann and Huiberts, who previously worked together at a Dutch-language interior design magazine before founding Frame Publishers. In a 25th-anniversary interview with Salone del Mobile, Thiemann said the magazine was created to address the absence of an international business-to-business print publication devoted to interiors and spatial design.

The magazine's title has been linked to two meanings by Thiemann: the physical frame of interior space, formed by walls, floor and ceiling, and the editorial act of framing a view of the world.

In a 2014 talk, Thiemann explained the first issue covered flagship store projects for brands including Nike, Diesel and Swatch. He described the magazine's later retail coverage as moving through architect-designed stores, artist collaborations, pop-up retail, heritage aesthetics and sensory environments.

By the 2010s, FRAME had added books, events, awards, online publishing and retail experiments. In 2024, Fast Company reported that Thiemann had led FRAME for 26 years before leaving the magazine to launch the spatial-design consultancy Betterness.

Bibliographic information

ISSN Portal records Frame under ISSN 1388-4239, with the key title Frame (Amsterdam) and the Netherlands as the country of publication. WorldCat lists the magazine as an English-language journal/magazine published in Amsterdam from 1997 onward.

From Wikipedia’s article on Frame Publishers, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.³

Products and brands

In 2014, Frame Publishers opened temporary retail spaces in Amsterdam designed by i29. One project, developed with Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, occupied the historic Felix Meritis building and included retail spaces, events, exhibitions and mirrored interiors.

Later that year, FRAME opened a temporary store at Herengracht 178 in Amsterdam. The project was also designed by i29 Interior Architects and translated the magazine's graphic identity into a retail installation. Fast Company described the shop as a "walk-in optical illusion," noting that its interior appeared to invert when seen from different positions. ArchDaily also published the project as a retail interior by i29 in Amsterdam.